./ 



A GUIDE 

TO 

FORMING AND CONDUCTING 
LYCEUMS, DEBATING SOCIETIES, &c, 

WITH 

OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS AND ESSAYS, 

AND AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING 

AN EPITQME OF RHETORIC ^ LOGIC, &c. 

By CHARLES MORLEY, 

Author of " Geographical Key," " Common School Grammar," " Guide to 
CompoBitioa,."."4.nalytic Arithmetic," &c. 



NEW.YXfRK: 
A. E. WRIGHT, 112 FU L T O N-S T R E E T. 

1841. 



\A 



Entered, according to;'Act of Congress, in tlie year 1841 , by 

A. E. WRIGHT, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Dietrict Court of the United States for the 

Southtm District ot New- York. 



H. rXTDWIO, PBINTBS, 

72 Vesey-at., N. Y. 






PREFACE. 



TO YOUNG MEN. 

Dear Friends — We live in an age of invention, enter- 
prise and improvement ; ihe watch-word \^ Onward; let 
it be yours, and inscribed on the tablet of your hearts. 
Onward^ not in the path of mad ambition; spurn the 
laurels steeped in tears and the crow^n dyed in blood ; 
but ONWARD to a nobler crown, encircled with gems that 
will brighten through all time and during the ceaseless 
roll of eternity. 

Such a boon is within your reach : It can be obtained 
by the right improvement of your minds ; and one of the 
best means for accomplishing so desirable an object is, 
the formation of Lyceums and Debating Societies, which 
might be formed m every town and village in the Union, 
and the object of this manual is to guide you in forming 
and conducting such societies, several of which are now 
in successful operation in various parts of our country. 

Franklin and Sherman rose from obscurity to a lofty 
eminence ; with proper efforts you may become their 
equal in usefulness. 



4 PREFACE. 

The Lyceum and Debating Society are among the 
best means for the improvement of talents and the disci- 
pline of the mind. It was in a Debating Society that 
Brougham first displayed his superior talents and un- 
rivalled eloquence, and Henry Clay commenced his bril- 
liant career in a village Debating Club. If the marble 
is rough, the Debating School vi^ill polish it and bring to 
light its inherent beauty. It is the refiner's fire ;^ it 
burnishes and purifies the fine gold, brings order out of 
confusion, light out of darkness, and beauty out of de- 
formity : yea, it transforms pebbles into diamonds. 

CM. 



DIRECTIONS FOR FORMING SOCIETIES. 



You who wish the advantages of a Lyceum or 
Debating Society in your village or town either for 
your own or others' benefit, call on your neighbours, 
propose the subject, state the objects of such a so- 
ciety, and obtain as many as you can to co-operate 
with you in this noble work. Appoint a meeting 
to organize a society — either state to the audience 
the importance of such an institution or prevail on 
a clergyman, or some other influential individual, to 
do it — appoint a committee to draft a constitution, 
or have one already prepared. 

Be not discouraged, if but few attend the meet- 
ing or co-operate with you. The most efficient 
literary society of the world had its origin with two 
individuals, who by accident met at a hotel in Lon- 
don, and in conversation on the deplorable igno- 
rance of the great mass of the people. One pro- 
posed to the other the formation of a society, that 
would have a direct influence in the difl'usion of 
useful knowledge, to which the other heartily as- 
sented. They made arrangements, and advertised 
a meeting for the purpose of organizing a society ; 
but no one attended with them ; one appointed the 
other president and he in turn his associate secre- 
tary — they discussed and passed resolutions, which 
1* 



6 DIRECTIONS FOR FORMING SOCIETIES. 

were published in the papers, with the statement, 
that they were passed at a respectable meeting 
called for the purpose of forming 'a society for the 
diffusion of useful knowledge, and that another 
meeting would be held at such a time, which was 
attended by a large audience of the wealthy and 
influential, not only of London, but from many parts 
of the British empire ; and since that time the so- 
ciety has with constant increasing energy been 
scattering light, knowledge and innumerable bless- 
ings over the civilized world. Several of our na- 
tional benevolent societies had an equally small be- 
ginning. The ocean is composed of drops. 



CONSTITUTION FOR A LYCEUM. 



PREAMBLE. 

We, the undersigned, believe with the wise man, 
that " Wisdom is the principal thing ; that she is 
more precious than rubies ; and that all things that 
can be desired are not worthy to be compared with 
her ; " and in order to store our minds with it, and 
for mutual improvement, as well as the diffusion of 
useful knowledge, we form ourselves into a So- 
ciety for these noble purposes ; and agree to be 
governed by the following Constitution and By-laws. 

CONSTITUTION. 

Art. 1st. The name of this Society shall be 
the 

Art. 2d. Its Officers shall be a President, 
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, 
and an Executive Committee of . . . . and all the 
Officers shall perform their respective duties as is 
customary. 

Art. 3d. The President, at the request of any 
five members, may call special meetings of the 
Society. 

Art. 4th. Any gentleman of good moral char- 
acter may become a member of this Society by 



8 BY-LAWS. 

signing the constitution and paying an initiatory 
fee of 

Art. 5th. The stated meetings shall be held 
on . . . and the exercises shall be either a lecture, 
essays read, or a discussion on some subject calcu- 
lated to promote the general objects of the Society, 
avoiding whatever is of a sectarian or party nature. 

Art. 6th. The annual meeting of the Society for 
the election of Officers, &c., shall be held on . . . 

BY-LAWS. 

1st. At the time appointed for the meeting, the 
Chairman shall call the members to order, and the 
Secretary shall proceed to call the roll, then read 
the minutes of the last meeting, and after being ac- 
cepted by the Society, state the order of exerv- 
cises, &c. 

2d. Absentees and those tardy shall be fined 
. . . unless they render an excuse satisfactory to 
the Society. 

3d. Any member for improper conduct may be 
expelled from the Society, by a vote of two-thirds 
of the members present, at any regular meeting of 
the Society. 

4th. At each regular meeting, there shall be a 
subject for discussion selected for the next. Any 
member may propose a question for debate, and the 
Society shall decide by vote on the selection. 

5th. Each speaker in debate shall be limited to 



REMARKS. 9 

. . . minutes and speak but . . . unless by permis- 
sion of the Society. 

6th. At the close of each debate, the Chairman 
shall decide on the merits of the discussion, and then 
the Society by vote on the merits of the question. 

7th. The exercises of the regular meetings shall 
be public. 

8th, The order of exercises shall be, 1. Lec- 
ture, or discussion. 2. Reading of essays or decla- 
mation. 3. Proposing questions for future discussion 
and any other miscellaneous business. 4. Propos- 
ing or admitting new members. 

9th. This Constitution and By-laws shall not 
be altered or amended, unless at a regular meeting 
of the Society by a vote of two-thirds of the mem- 
bers present. 

REMARKS. 

A library attached to your society would be very 
beneficial ; a tax on each member of six or twelve 
cents per month would furnish the means for a good 
and constantly increasing one. You might also 
have a cabinet of minerals and geological specimens 
— each member making donations according to his 
desire and ability ; and by exchanging duplicates 
with other societies and individuals, (as our country 
is rich in mineral wealth,) you could make a valu- 
able collection. It would be well to go occasionally 
on a short tour in mineral sections and make 
collections. 



10 NOTE . 

Sea shells and botanical specimens would be valu- 
able additions. You might thus collect a variety 
of nature's beautiful productions and behold in them 
vivid demonstrations of the wisdom ay^d goodness of 
the Creator. Your society might become auxiliary 
to the National Lyceum. 



NOTE. 

ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL SCIENCE 

GEOLOGY. 

There exists in the northern part of Ohio a chartered Companv 
which aims to connect thrifty enterprise and an enlightened prose- 
cution of Productive Industry in various departments with the 
cheap and advantageous dissemination of Useful Knowledge. The 
idea is certainly a good one, and will yet lead to noble results. 
This Company have a small but thriving village, twelve miles south- 
west of Cleveland, entitled Berea, or Lyceum Village, where a 
combination of ample water-power, with choice land and inex- 
haustible quarries of superior buildi' g-stone, excellent also for 
grind stones, &c. were deemed to offer extraordinary inducements 
for location. 

The Seminary there established is founded on what we believe to 
be the true basis of Academic Instruction — a blending of Manual 
Labour with Study. Each pupil, male or female, devotes six hours 
per day to bo(»ks, and so much as his or her parents may think 
proper of the remaining six hours to labour, of which the product is 
credited in payment of his or her tuition, board, &c. Each pupil 
may study more and work less than six hours, but is required to be 
usefully employed twelve houis of each day in one way or the other. 
This arrangement cannot be too highly commended or too generally 
adopted. 

But the great superiority of the system followed in this as in 
other Manual Labour Seminaries is found in the practical char- 
acter of the Education there obtained. Boys are taught not merely 



NOT 15. 11 

to think, but to act — not merely to speak and write correctly, but 
to fill a station in life creditably and to earn an honest livelihood. 
There is one serious objection to thorough Universal Education of 
the usual stamp — namely, that it unfits men, or at least renders 
them averse, to obtain their bread by the sweat of th^^ir brows. 
The youth who has spent years in acquiring Latin and Greek feels 
degraded, or at least displaced, by a resort to ihe hoe and the scythe 
for a living. This shows error in the common modes of Education. 
All men ought to be better educated than one out of fifty now is ; 
but all men cannot be Doctors, Lawyers, Ministers or Merchants ; 
the Professions are crowded already ; and we want a system of 
cheap and practical Education which shall make better Farmers, 
Mechanics, Miners, Manufacturers, Artists, &c. &c. than the mass 
of the present. To this end Village Lyceums and Manual Labour 
Schools are destined essentially to contribute. 

The Beiea Seminary, we learn from documents before us, aims 
directly at the inculcation of Practical Knowledge in regard to 
every department of Physical Science. Geology is especially 
attended to, and the pupils are taught to make the acquisition of 
knowledge with regard to the Earth's elements and structure a 
daily pleasure — a source of increasing interest and gratification. 
The formation of Scientific Cabinets, consisting of Geological, 
Mineralogical or Botanical Specimens, is inculcated by piecept 
and example ; and teachers educated at the Seminary are qualified 
to diffuse the knowledge and the taste among their scholars. 

We have before us a collection of Geological Specimens made 
by the pupils of this Seminary — one of a number recently distri- 
buted among the Editors of this City — showing the different varie- 
ties of rock common in this country. They are very neatly put up 
and labelled ; and, as there are hundreds of intelligent persons 
who can hardly distribute half a dozen kinds of rock into their ap- 
propriate classes, we publish the following brief accompanying de- 
scription, as matter of general and profitable interest : 

Geography and Geology are sister sciences as both describe the 
earth. The one tells where mountains and other portions of the 
earth are ; the other tells what they are. The one describes the 
situations, and the other the ingredients or materials, with the or- 
der of their arrangement. The one cannot be fully understood 
without assistance from the other. 



12 NOTE. 

Among all the sciences, no one is raore simple or easily under- 
stood, or better culculated to employ, entertam, and instruct chil- 
dren ; and few, if any, more useful to farmers, mechanics and 
others, than some ofthe first elements of" Practical Geology." 
No science probably displays in a more striking and wonderful 
manner the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the great Creator of 
the Universe. 

A large portion of the twenty-five specimens here described can 
be found in every part of the world ; all, and many more, may be 
obtained, with trifling expense and trouble, as a part of a " Fam- 
ily Cabinet" for each of the two millions of families in theAmeri- 
can Republic. They are particularly convenient and useful for 
the members of families, lyceums, and schools, to send to those of 
other countries or continents, as an aid from those who know to 
those who do not know the elements which compose our globe. 

Quartz is the most common and abundant ingredient in moun- 
tains, rocks, and soils ; is the natural deposit of gold and other 
metals ; the necessary and principal ingredient in the manufacture 
of glass ; and, under different forms and colours, is known by the 
names of jasper, cornelian, chalcedony, agate, amethyst, topaz, 
opal, and other gems. The different kinds of quartz found in 
abundance, are called milk quartz, smoky quartz, blue, red 
and yellow quartz, according to their various colours. Quartz, 
in all its varieties, is hard, and scratches most other min- 
erals, and, of course, can not be scratched by them. Gun flint, 
and the common, smooth, hard pebbles found in nearly every 
part ofthe globe, are varieties of this common, abundant and use- 
ful mineral. It is the only mineral which is found everywhere. 

No. 1. Milk quartz is nearly pure, or free from iron and other 
substances, which give colour to mineral, also to animal and vege- 
table substances. 

No. 2. Smoky quartz, which is coloured by iron, is of various 
shades, and sometimes transparent. 

No. 3. Red or jaspery quartz has a larger portion of iron than 
any other variety. Jasper is a gem, and is beautifully polished. 

No. 4. Felspar is intimately and extensively combined with 
quartz in the formation of mountains, soils, &c., and is essential 
in the manufactory of porcelain or china ware. It is scratched by 
quartz, and breaks more in the form of platen or small tables. It 



NOTE. 13 

is commonly reddish, and sometimes flesh-coloured ; also nearly 
white. When reduced to a powder, it is more like clay, and less 
like sand than quartz when pulverized. 

No. 5. Mica, frequently called isinglass, is combined with 
quartz and felspar in the formation of nearly all the high mountains 
upon our globe. In some parts of Russia and other countries, it is 
used for windows in place of glass. 

No. 6. Hornblend is less hard, but more tough and difficult to 
break than quartz or felspar. It contains a large portion of iron, is 
of a dark green or black colour, and enters largely into rocks, 
ledges and mountains in variou* parts of the globe. 

No. 7. Granular lime is much used for marble, and is abundant 
in many parts of the world. 

No. 8. Compact lime is of finer texture, and more recent forma- 
tion, than granular, and does not receive as fine a polish. One 
variety, found in Germany, is used for lithographic printing. 

No. 9. Green serpentine is an abundant rock, and sometimes a 
good material for the walls of houses. 

No. 10. Yellow serpentine is interspersed with the green, but 
not as common nor as good for buildings. Precious serpentine, 
which is frequently yellowish red, receives a beautiful polish, and 
is hence used for ornaments of various kinds. Serpentine can be 
cut with a knife. 

Serpentine is the common rock at Hoboken, and is found in long 
ranges in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, &c. Serpentine 
ridges are the deposits of chrome ore. 

No. II. Compact gypsum is a common variety of this rock, 
which is ground and used by farmers for manure. When very 
compact, fine and translucent, it is called alabaster, which is much 
wrought for ornaments. 

No. 12. Selenite, or crystalized gypsum, breaks in thin plates 
or leaves, and is frequently as transparent as glass. Gypsum can 
be scratched by the finger nail. 

No. 13. Talc is sometimes called French chalk. It has a 
greasy or soapy feel, and commonly a light colour, and is softer 
than gypsum. 

No. 14. Coarse granite is composed of quartz, felspar, and 
mica, the last frequently in plates sufficiently large for windows. 
No. 16. Fine granite is a common, vaJuable material for the 

2 



14 NOTE. 

walls of houses. The ingredients are like those of the coarse, ex- 
cept finer. 

No. 16. Gneiss is a slaty granite. From the position of the 
mica in gneiss, it is split with ease into large slabs, fit for floors, 
side-walks, bridges, &c. 

Nos. 17 and 18. Mica slate resembles gneiss, but contains no 
felspar, being composed of quartz and mica. The surface is fre- 
quently undulating, as in No. 18. Beautiful crystal? of garnet and 
staurotide are sometimes deposited in mica slate in great niimbers. 
Nos. 19 and 20. Sienite has the same ingredients as granite, ex- 
cept that hornblend takes the place of mica. The most noted 
quarries of this rock are in Quincy, Mass., which furnished the ' 
material for the Bunker Hill Monument, and for houses in great 
numbers and value in nearly every sea-port in the country. 

No. 21. Greenstone is composed of hornblend and felspar inti- 
mately combined, and constitutes rocks, ledges and mountains in 
various parts of the world. It is green or black, not easily broken, 
but much used for buildings. 

Nos. 22 and 23. Sandstone, composed of cemented grains of 
sand, is much used for buildings, and is the only material fitted for 
grindstones. No. 22 is fron" quarries in the Lyceum Village, Ohio, 
which furnish the best grit for grindstones known in America, and 
a valuable article for whetstones, buildings, tombstones, and various 
other uses. 

No. 24. Puddings! one, or conglomerate, is composed of ce- 
mented pebbles of various sizes and qualities, and is frequently 
found with sandstone. In many places it is a common and abund- 
ant, if not the only rock. When the pebbles are not rounded, 
having short corners, it is called breccia, like the pillars in the 
capitol at Washington, D. C. 

No. 25. Soapstone is composed of talc and quartz, and is ex- 
tensively used. It can readily be used into slabs with a common 
saw, hewed with an axe, turned in a lathe, smoothed with a plane, 
and thus vp-rought into almost any form which its uses require. 

From small beginnings, like the few specimens here described, 
thousands and tens of thousands of large and valuable cabinets 
have grown, and numerous thorough mineralogists and accom- 
plished naturalists have arisen ; while those who commence with 
large and expensive collections, seldom acquire any considerable 
knowledge of the subjects to which they relate. And among the 



T O J. A D I E S . 15 

many thousands who have attended full and able courses of lec- 
tures on Geology and Mineralogy, few, if any^ can distinguish one 
mineral from another, who have formed cabmets for themselves; 
while children, in great numbers in all parts of the country, by the 
aid of a few specimens, and two or three excursions to collect them, 
are as familiar with all the common rocks and most of the useful 
minerals, as with the articles of table furniture. A teacher once 
said to his boys, that all who had their lessons at a time mentioned, 
might go with him on a geological excursion. He afterwards re- 
marked, that several of his boys, for the first time in their lives, 
got their lessons, and at the time specified. Many thousand similar 
cases might be named. 

These facts, and thousands of others of similar character, afford 
sufficient proof, that — whether the practical sciences, the "useful 
branches," as some are disposed to call them, such as reading, writ- 
ing and arithmetic, or the preservation of morals are concerned — 
cotlec'ing, arranging, studying, and describing specimens of geolo- 
gy and other departments of natural history, are among the most 
useful exercises which teachers and parents can provide for their 
children. 



TO LADIES. 

You, too, can and ought to form societies for 
mutual improvement ; you might meet on a stated 
day and read essays and discuss subjects that you 
feel interested in ; or one might read extracts from 
some interesting book, and then make the subject 
read a topic of conversation and remark. Appoint 
a committee on news, v^^hose duty shall be to collect 
in a condensed form, the most important news to 
read at the next meeting; another committee on 
books, to examine the various publications of the 
day, and report what ones are valuable andwhj', and 
what are worthless or immoral in their tendency, 



16 TOLADIES. 

SO that such books might be shunned like a pesti- 
lence ; a third on health, and report what customs 
are injurious to the health of the community and the 
means of remedy ; a fourth on morals, and report 
what females can do to improve the morals of so- 
ciety ; a fifth on charity, to seek out and report 
who and what are objects of charity and in what 
manner they can be best relieved ; a sixth on edu- 
cation, to consider and report on the defects and 
means of remedy of the present system of female 
education ; a seventh on the fashions, and report 
on the advantages and disadvantages of the various 
fashions, and state whether any improvement might 
be made, in reference to promoting health and 
economy, and take into consideration, whether it is 
in accordance with our Republican Institutions to 
follow exclusively the fashions of France and Eng- 
land ; an eighth on composition, to examine essays, 
&;c. and point out defects and suggest subjects for 
essays, debates, &;c.; a ninth, on the biography of 
distinguished females, and at each meeting read 
extracts from the same. 

We might enlarge the field to almost any extent. 
Each meeting might be highly interesting and be- 
neficial to yourselves, while you are preparing for 
extensive usefulness, and to become angels of peace 
and happiness to multitudes of the human race. 
Your influence is doubtless equal if not superior to 
that of the other sex. You hold in your hands the 
destinies of the world. It is in your power to ren- 



TOLADIES. 17 

der this wide earth one scene of desolation and 
death — one great pandemonium of wretchedness 
and wo ; or to encircle it with blessings and mould 
it into a paradise of love and happiness — a glorious 
type of heaven. Methinks I hear you resolve, we 
will give all our influence to make the globe an 
Eden of bliss. 

As I look down the stream of time, I behold 
women with an angelic countenance, like the bright 
king of day, sending forth brilliant rays of light, 
and scattering innumerable blessings far and near. 
I behold her in the cottage of distress, a minister- 
ing angel ; in the house of mourning, a comforter ; 
wherever wretchedness, misery, or vice abound, 
there she is dispelling the dark clouds of ignorance, 
wo and wickedness. A renovated world with one 
voice and one heart express with beaming joy their 
gratitude to her. 

Onward then to your noble work, trustinor to the 
grace of God, by which you can overcome all diffi- 
ties, vanquish every foe, do all necessary things, 
and be the instruments of bringing millions of the 
sons and daughters of Adam to wear crowns of 
immortal bliss. 

A young lady in Philadelphia, a few years since, 
felt an ardent desire to do good ; among other means 
to accomplish this object she instructed a class of 
little girls in a Sabbath School ; she called one day at 
a house where lived a little girl about ten years of 
age and after stating to her the advantages of Sab- 
2 * 



18 TOLADIES. 

bath Schools, asked her if she wished to attend ; she 
rephed in the affirmative, and asked permission of 
her father ; he being an infidel refused to grant it ; " 
she entreated with tears, and, to gratify her, 
(she being his only cliild was much beloved by him,) 
he granted her request. The little girl became 
deeply interested in her lessons, and at length in- 
quired of her faithful teacher the way to be prepared 
for heaven. She become pious. Two years after the 
family removed into a new settlement in Pennsyl- 
vania, where there was no church, school, or any 
pious individual, but her heart burned with a de- 
sire to do good : she collected a number of little girls 
and instructed them in a Sabbath School ; a revival 
soon commenced, and spread through the village ; 
soon a church was erected, several young men pre- 
pared for the ministry and embarked to a heathen 
land — there to proclaim the glad tidings of a Sa- 
viour to a lost world. 

Multitudes have been, and other multitudes will 
be prepared for heaven through the instrumentality 
of that Sabbath School teacher. Here is an exam- 
ple, of how much good one female can do. Her 
language was, " May 1 so live that the world may 
be better by my living in it." Let it be yours. 



DISCUSSIONS. 



IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT RIGHT ? 

AFFIRMATIVE. 

Capital punishment is the highest penalty for 
the commission of crime, which in most of the 
States of our Union is death. 

1st. The safety of the community may he en- 
dangered by 'permitting the murderer to live. 

Among the numerous facts on this head, we will 
cite only two. A ^ew years since, a murderer in 
Mexico was sentenced to die on the wheel ; both 
of his legs and one arm were cut off and he was 
supposed to be dead. His mangled body was given 
to the physicians, they took it to the dissecting 
room and there they discovered signs of life, and, 
moved with pity, they used the means to resuscitate 
him with success. They placed him by the side 
of the public high-way that he might be supported 
by the charity of travellers. After being there for 
some time, a wealthy gentleman was passing, of 
whom the beggar solicited alms — (his remaining 
hand being concealed under his back ;) he held to 
him a gobi coin — the solicitor requested him to put 
it in his pocket, stating that he had lost both of his 
hands : while stooping to fulfil his request, the donor 
started back at the sudden appearance of a hand 



20 DISCUSSIONS. 

with a dirk in it; he took the villain into his car- 
riage and carried him to the nearest public house, 
and examined him, and found in his pocket besides 
the dirk a whistle, which at once suggested the idea 
that he was associated with a band of robbers. A 
number of armed men were collected, and going 
near the place where the beggar had lain, con- 
cealed themselves, while one biowed the whistle, 
when immediately several men emerged from a cave 
with cutlasses, pistols, &c. ; they fired and killed 
them all, and then proceeded to the cavern, and 
there found a large quantity of gold and silver, and 
a variety of articles, and in another part a trap- 
door, and in the cellar the remains of from 25 to 30 
bodies, most of whom are supposed to have been 
killed by the one handed beggar. 

Robert Kid, the notorious pirate, stated, that after 
he had committed the first murder, he was horror- 
struck— his remorse of conscience was almost in- 
suflTerable, but it wore away by degrees, and at 
length he killed another, then, he says, " My re- 
morse of conscience was great, but not so much as 
after killing the other man; at length I killed a 
third, I now had much remorse of conscience, but 
still less, and so on until I felt no more remorse of 
conscience in killing a man than in slaying an ox.'* 

Note. Here, my young friends, in this last case, you see the 
awful danger of begirining to uo wrong. Oh! r<ftain from com- 
mencing any badcouise with more caution than you would avoid 
a mad dog or pesiilence ; for it leads to the path of death, uot to 
your body only but eternal death to your soul. Ten thousand bea- 
cons echo in your ears, beware, bewake, Oh, beware ! ! 



DISCUSSIONS. 21 

2d. Capital 'punishment is of great antiquity. 
Every nation, from the remotest antiquity to the 
present, have practised it. 

StZ. It is sanctioned hy the Bible. Gen. ix. 6. 
" Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
blood be shed." 

Conclusion. Besides other arguments that might 
be advanced to prove that capital punishment is 
right, we rest upon these cardinal ones ; viz. : 
The safety of the community is endangered by let- 
ting the murderer live, — Capital punishment is of 
great antiquity and the Bible justifies it. 

NEGATIVE, 

\st. Is the safety of the community promoted hy 
putting the murderer to death ? 

We shall attempt to show conclusively that it is 
not. We shall by no means attempt to justify the 
murderer ; we wish justice to be done him for his 
horrid deed, but we wish him to be punished other- 
wise than by death and in such a manner, that the 
community, instead of being endangered by permit- 
ting him to live, will be benefited. The punishment 
that we propose is, that the murderer, or any one 
convicted of whatever crime that is now punished 
with death, should be condemned to the State prison 
for life. In many instances persons have been 
huni'", for the supposed crime of murder, when after- 
wards it was ascertained that they were innocent ; 



22 DISCUSSIONS. 

whereas, if they had been imprisoned, when found 
innocent, they could have been liberated. The 
murderer condemned to perpetual bondage is a 
living beacon to warn the young and inexperienced 
of the dangers and consequences of crime, and 
therefore a standing guard for the protection of the 
community. We have proof of this position in the 
following facts, which may be found in Livingston's 
Code of the Laws of Louisiana. When Catharine 
was Empress of Russia, she abolished capital pun- 
ishment throughout her dominions, and after an ex- 
periment of twenty years she stated, that fewer 
murders and crimes of every kind were committed 
during that period than were ever before known 
during the same length of time. Leopold of Tus- 
cany tried the same experiment for the same length 
of time and obtained the same result. 

2cZ. Because we can trace hack Capital Punish- 
ment to great antiquity it is no proof of its being right; 
no more than sin is right because it has rolled on 
its black stream almost from the beginning of time. 

ScZ. The Bible has been quoted to prove that 
Capital punishment is right. 

Let us then examine this Holy Book, and see if 
it can or cannot be proved right. In the context 
of the passage quoted by the affirmative, God had 
given directions to Noah and his sons, what food 
they should eat ; but when they ate animal food 
they were forbidden to eat blood, because it was the 
life, and then applies the subject to the shedding 



DISCUSSIONS. 23 

of man's blood. " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by 
man shall his blood be shed ; for in the image of 
God made he man." The Great Jehovah first for- 
bids the human family to eat the blood of beasts, 
because it is the life thereof. But as the Heavens 
are higher than the earth, so is man higher in the 
scale of being than the beasts that perish ; because 
man is stamped with the impress of the Divine 
image ; therefore He shows the guilt of shedding 
man's blood, and pronounces a wo on the man that 
does it. But there is no command given to man in 
the above passage to slay the murderer. This pas- 
sage like many other in Holy Writ, is misunderstood 
by many, especially by those who read superficially. 
Every critical reader of the Bible knows, that the 
blessing pronounced on Jacob and the curse on 
Esau, came not on them but on their posterity, on 
nations descended from them, which history con- 
firms. In Matthew xxvi. 61 and 52 verse, we read 
thus, " One of them with Jesus drew his sword, and 
struck a servant of the high priest, and smote off 
his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, " put up again 
thy sword into its place : for all they that take the 
sword shall perish with the sword," We learn 
from John xviii. verse 1 0, that it was Peter, who 
thus smote the servant of the high priest. Peter 
did not perish by the sword. Multitudes have 
killed their fellow men with the sword but have not 
themselves been killed by the sword. This passage 
as well as, '* Whoso sheddeth man's blood," &c. 



24 DISCUSSIONS. 

must apply to nations. Almost every page of hu- 
man history is dyed in blood, and verifies the truth 
of God's word. When a nation rises against an- 
other nation with blood-stained weapons. God 
sends awful judgments on that nation. Sometimes 
he permits other nations to be his ministers of jus- 
tice and cause their land to flow with blood, and 
the nation itself to be swept from the globe. Where 
are the Syrian and the Babylonian Empires ? 
Where the once mighty nations of Greece and 
Rome ? and many other once powerful Empires, 
whose armies once deluged the earth in blood ? 
Echo answers where ? Whenever a nation has 
warred against another nation, the curse of war 
has fallen on their own heads. There is not a single 
exception. How true, " Whoso sheddeth man's 
blood, by man shall his blood be shed." 

Asfain we have the direct command of God 
against putting to death the murderer. After Cain 
had slain his brother Abel, he not only forbid any 
one from slaying Cain, but pronounced a seven-fold 
vengeance upon any one that should put him to 
death. Again in the commandment, " Thou shalt 
not kill." To put the murderer to death is killing 
him, and therefore in direct violation of God's 
moral law. The blessed Saviour prayed for his mur- 
derers ; they knew that they were committing mur- 
der ; but knew not that they were putting to death 
the Son of God ; they probably supposed him a 
a human being like themselves. 



DISCUSSIONS. 26 

Conclusion. If persons are condemned to death 
for crimes by the laws, it lessens the value of human 
life in the eyes of the community. Draco's bloody 
code doomed to death every person who committed 
the least crime ; but that instead of lessening crime 
increased it. The Romans punished with death 
for many small crimes — and behold the result, the 
community valued human^life so little, and the fre- 
quent executions had so hardened the hearts of the 
people, that the deadly combat of the gladiators 
was a source of great amusement even to the ladies 
— yes, even they could look on with joy to see man 
butcher his fellow man, and hear his death struggle 
with delight. In England, a few years since, the 
stealing of a watch was a capital offence ; yet while 
one man was being executed for that crime, it was 
reported that five hundred watches were stolen 
from the crowd who came to witness his execution, 
and crimes increased with a fearful ratio, so that 
the government was convinced of the necessity of 
abolishing capital punishment for minor offences, 
and they have restricted it now to a few crimes. 
In our country, when executions were public, every 
species of crime was committed under the gallows, 
and frequently other murders were perpetrated in 
the vicinity of the execution, at the very time or 
soon after. Again capital punishment is a species 
of revenge, a relic of barbarism ; the principle is 
the same as if one man who being knocked down, 
must in turn knock down his antagonist, &c. &c. 
3 



26 DISCUSSIONS. 

The object of law should be the reformation of 
the criminal, as well as the prevention of crime. 
This is the object of the Divine law and govern- 
ment. The Creator does not cut off immediately 
the greatest rebel against his law and govern- 
ment, but uses means to reform him — holds out to 
him the sceptre of peace and salvation, and entreats 
him to turn and live. Jlere then is a perfect ex- 
ample for the magistrates of earth in the making 
and execution of laws. For these and the other 
reasons adduced and proved by facts and the Bible, 
capital punishment is wrong, a monstrous, cruel 
and barbarian custom, a disgrace to savages. As 
light is dawning on the moral darkness of our globe, 
we trust that this and every other custom that is 
wrong, will soon be banished from the civilized 
world. 



ARE FICTITIOUS WRITINGS BENEFICIAL? 
AFFIRMATIVE. 

Fictitious writings are the offspring of the ima- 
gination — pictures of fancy — maps of ideal worlds 
that never have or will exist — beautiful descrip- 
tions of splendid estates and temples built in the 
air — wonderful adventures, hair-breadth escapes, 
and glorious exploits of Mr. Nobody. Novels and 
romances are the principal books of this descrip- 
tion. 

1st. These works are written in an interesting and 



DISCUSSIONS. 27 

captivating style, and therefore would induce many 
to read them out of curiosity or for amusement, 
and thus form a taste for reading, which in all pro- 
bability never would have been formed if it had not 
been for these writings, and may be the means of 
deterring them from bad company and dissipation. 

2d. Virtue is decked in heauty and loveliness, and 
vice in its black deformity — the reader is invited to 
enter the golden temple of the one and shun the 
polluted den of the other ; hence an enticement to 
virtue, and a guard against vice. 

3d. Many novels, as those of Sir Walter Scott, 
are founded on facts, and in them are interwoven 
interesting historical incidents — histories in fact, 
decked it is true, with the tinsel trimming of the 
novel, which induces multitudes to read that other- 
wise would not look at them. 

4th. Are not the parables of our Saviour ficti- 
tious ? Are not fables and poetry fictitious ? With 
these arguments we rest the case. 

NEGATIVE. 

1st. Many histories and other books of facts are 
written in a style, to say the least, equally inter- 
esting and captivating, as Xenophon's Cynopgedia, 
Tacitus, &;c., they are translated into English — 
histories of Greece, Rome, France, England, and 
of our own infant nation. Any one that wishes to 
have their curiosity excited, or desire amusement, 



28 DISCUSSIONS. 

will here find unlimited fields of curiosity and 
amusement ; and if books will deter from bad com- 
pany and dissipation, these will do it ; and besides 
the reader of these books is storinof his mind with 
real and valuable knowledge, whilst the reader of 
novels and romances is filling his with shadows — 
empty trash — mere cobwebs of knowledge. 

2d. And in histories, too, virtue is decked in 
beauty and loveliness, fully equal to that of the 
novel, and with real not imaginary attire, and vice 
is portrayed in equally hideous forms. In Xeno- 
phon's description of the amiable virtues of Cyrus, 
his kindness, benevolence and charity towards a 
queen whom he had taken captive, contrasted with 
Julian, Henry VIII. of England, and many other 
monsters of cruelty. In the history of France, the 
amiable, pious and benevolent Joan of Arc, whose 
devotion to her country and piety have never been 
excelled by any human being, contrasted with her 
black-hearted enemies, persecutors and betrayers ; 
and when she is led to the scafibld, there, with up- 
lifted hands, she prays for her persecutors, and they 
too had been delivered from suffering, want and 
death by her hands — she had even perilled her life 
to save theirs. Now see their base ingratitude," 
their abominable wicked deeds. What monsters ! 
wretches ! putting to death the beautiful, the lovely 
and almost angelic maid of Orleans. Here is a 
real, true historical fact. Did you ever read in any 
novel a lovelier picture of virtue on the one hand, or a 



DISCUSSIONS. 29 

more monstrous and disgusting exhibition of vice 
on the other ? Likewise in the history of Eng- 
land, contrast the virtuous Lady Jane Grey with 
the black-hearted bloody Mary. In our own his- 
tory contrast the noble, the generous, the great, the 
good Washington, with the base and treacherous 
Arnold ! These are but a drop in the great ocean 
of historical facts that hold up to view, in vivid col- 
ours, the loveliness of virtue and the deformity of 
vice ; hence novels and romances are wholly unne- 
cessary for this purpose. 

3d. As far as the novels of Scott, or any others, 
are facts or histories^ they are not fictitious, and 
hence have no bearing on the subject ; and we have 
shown the style of works of facts are equally inter- 
esting to that of the best written novels, so that 
they are not beneficial on any account thus far 
stated. 

4th. Parables are not fictitious. All the parables 
of our Saviour are truths introduced to represent 
other truths, that is, he illustrates heavenly by 
earthly things, in order to make those truths under- 
stood by us. Fables are modes of illustrating truth, 
and are symbolical facts, and therefore not ficti- 
tious. Poetry is of a mixed nature, some of it fic- 
titious and some true ; but here we have no diffi- 
culty, the fictitious has the same bearing as novels, 
&c., and no better merely because it is poetry. 

Conclusion. 1st. Most novels g;ve distorted and 
unnatural views of life. 
3* 



30 DISCUSSIONS. 

2d. Many novels and romances disrobe virtue of 
much of her loveliness, and decorate vice in gaudy 
colours, and entice the young to enter their pollut- 
ed temple. 

3d. They vitiate the taste, as strong liquors do 
the stomach — their votaries disrelish all useful 
reading, and become drones, dunces, mere ciphers 
in society. I knew several young men in college 
who were great novel readers — they read nothing 
else — they neglected their lessons, and passed 
through college no wiser for having entered its 
walls, as far as useful knowledge is concerned ; 
their heads were filled with air castle building, dec, 
and their hearts loved only what was imaginary ; 
they seemed like the gay butterfly destined to daz- 
zle during a short summer of sunshine, and then to 
droop and die, forever forgotten. 

4th. They destroy sympathy and every noble 
feeling. Many will weep and cry over imaginary 
suffering depicted in the silly novel ; but when 
a real case of suffering meets their eyes, they are 
the last ones to feel, their hearts are steeled and 
proof against feeling. Two young ladies, sisters, 
members of a family at the South, would for hours 
together shed tears over the sufferings of individuals 
described in novels, and yet they would delight in 
torturing a poor female slave of the family. These 
are the noble characters formed by novels, &;c. 

5th. They ruin multitudes. Burrows the coun- 
terfeiter states, that novels and romances first 



DISCUSSIONS. 31 

caused him to stray from rectitude and proved his 
destruction, and he warns youth to beware of them 
as of a pestilence. They are the only reading of 
the worst members of society. The only books 
found in Helen Jewett's room (who a few years 
since was murdered, as was supposed, by her para- 
mour,) were many of the popular novels of the day. 
In proportion as a taste for fictitious writings has 
increased, in the same proportion has vice increas- 
ed — an unanswerable witness of the immoral ten- 
dency of these works. 

6th. Books have a silent but powerful influence 
in the formation of character. Says a distinguish- 
ed clergyman, " Let me see the favourite books of 
an individual, and I will tell you his character." 
Says another, " Let me write the favourite books 
of a nation, and I care not who make the laws." 
The poems of Homer inspired Alexander with an 
insatiable thirst for fame and military glory, and 
made him the conqueror of the world. The me- 
moirs cf this conqueror stamped a like character 
upon Caesar. These and similar ones made Napo- 
leon a second Alexander. The memoirs of Brai- 
nard also stamped his character upon Henry Mar- 
tyn. Hence it is of the utmost importance that 
youth read only books that will have a correct in- 
fluence. 

The managers of the Sabbath School Union have 
discontinued the publication of religious novels, for, 
to their surprise, they discovered that they were 



32 DISCUSSIONS. 

sowing the seeds of infidelity in the minds of even 
Sabbath school children. Said a lad seven years 
old, " I do n't believe the Bible is true, because all 
my library books are not true." 

Novels are one of the chief props of infidelity and 
atheism. An atheist of Albany, when asked the 
cause of his unbelief, stated that novels had pro- 
duced this state of mind ; he had no taste for any 
other reading. An inhabitant of Macedon visited 
Athens when in the meridian of its glory and splen- 
dour. He was astonished at the brilliant scenes, 
magnificence, order and beauty that he beheld on 
every side. All is strange and new to him ; the 
people are polished and very intelligent. He ea- 
gerly inquires the cause of all that seems so strange 
to him ; he is led into a temple and shown a book, 
which he is told is the cause ; he, with still more 
surprise, takes it into his trembling hands, and there 
reads on the title page The Poems of Homer. 
The Koran is the Mohammedan's idol and guide. 
The Bible causes the wilderness and solitary place 
to bloom and blossom as the rose ; its influence 
transforms the tiger fury and madness of man into 
the gentleness of the lamb and harmlessness of the 
dove. 

Hence we have overwhelming evidences that fic- 
titious v/ritings, instead of being beneficial, are in- 
jurious, a scourge to society worse than war, pes- 
tilence or famine; for they destroy multitudes of 
youth of both sexes, harden tiieir hearts, corrupt 



DISCUSSIONS. 33 

their morals, and lead them down the dark road to 
ruin. Shun these books as you would the Bohon 
. and Upas, or the poisonous breath of the Sinoc that 
J spreads desolation and death on every side. Say 
not that they will not injure me : millions have said 
the same and now are ruined for ever. Live not 
for your good alone but for others, for the good of 
the great family of man. 



IS ANIMAL MAGNETISM TRUE ? 

AFFIRMATIVE. 

Amimal Magnetism is one mind acting on an- 
other, or that power or influence which one mind 
exerts on another. It is called Animal Magnetism 
because, that one living being has the power to act 
on anothe- living b( ing submitted to his will, and 
because the physical energies assist the mental to 
some extent in producing the desired effects ; but 
as the soul is the centre of attraction, the grand 
moving power, it is, we think, with more propriety 
called Dunamisychology. 

We feel a species of its power when listening to 
the eloquence of a celebrated orator ; he is the 
centre of attraction ; the audience is held in rivet- 
ed attention ; he leads them into the midst of bat- 
tles — they hear the cannon roar, they see the 
blood flowing in rivulets. He ascends with them 



34 D I s ciy 8 s I ]S s , 

to heaven's gate ; they hear the celestial songv 
and behold the heavenly host robed in snowy 
white ; they imagine themselves inhabitants of 
that blessed world, until the spell is broken by 
the speaker closing his remarks, and, disappointed, 
they return to " earth's dull cares again." 

But what is more especially understood by Ani- 
mal Magnetism, is that power which some possess, 
of so concentrating their attention, and directing 
their will, with such energy, as to put some per- 
sons, especially if of feeble constitutions, into a 
magnetic sleep, and sometimes into somnambulism^ 
and frequently to cure or relieve disease. 

We have facts from the highest sources of tes- 
timony, to prove it true. The Royal Medical So- 
ciety of France, in 1831, pronounced itjrue, and 
of vast importance as an auxiliary of medicine- 
Many of the members of this learned body had 
used it for some time in their practice ;. this turned 
the popular feeling of France decidedly in its fa- 
vour. It is introduced with success into the hos- 
pitals of Paris, and extensively practiced by the 
most distinguished physicians of France, Ger- 
many, Holland, Sweden, and Prussia, and there 
is a professorship of Animal Magnetism at the 
Medical College of Berlin. Professor Kluge now 
fills that station. A number of eminent men in 
our own country use it in their practice. 

The following extract is from the report of the 
committee, appointed by the Royal Acadamy of 



DISCUSSIONS. 35 

Medicine, made to that learned body in 1831, to 
which we already have referred : 

" You have all heard of a fact, which at the 
time fixed the attention of the Chirurgical Section, 
and which was communicated to it at the session 
of April 16th, 1829, by M. Jules Cloquet. The 
committee thought it their duty to embody it in this 
report, as the least equivocal proofs of the power 
of the magnetic sleep. It relates to Madame 
Plantain, aged 64 years, living at 151 Rue Saint 
Dennis, who consulted M. Cloquet, on the 8th of 
April, 1829, about an ulcerated cancer on her 
right breast, which she had had many years, and 
which was complicated with a considerable en- 
largement of the axillary ganglions. M. Chape- 
lain, the physician of this woman, whom he had 
magnetized for some months, with the intention, a« 
he said, of reducing the enlargement of the breast, 
had been able to obtain no other result than a very 
profound sl«ep, during which her sensibility ap- 
peared to be annihilated, but the ideas preserved 
all their lucidity. He proposed to M. Cloquet, 
that he should operate upon it, while she was 
plunged into a magnetic sleep. M. Cloquet, con- 
sidering the operation to be indispensable, con- 
sented to it ; and it was agreed that it should taks 
place on the following Sabbath, April 12th. The 
two evenings previous, she was ma^etized several 
times by M. Chapelain, who disposed her, when 
in somnambulism, to support the operation without 



36 DISCUSSIONS. 

fear, and even led her to speak of it with com- 
posure, while, as soon as she awoke, she repelled 
the idea with horror. On the day appointed for 
the operation, M. Cloquet, on his arrival, at half 
past ten in the morning, found the patient dressed, 
and seated in an arm-chair, in the position of a 
person peacefully wrapped in a natural sleep. It 
was nearly an hour since she had returned from 
mass, which she always attended at the same 
hour. M. Chapelain had put her into the mag- 
netic sleep, since she came back. She spoke with 
great calmness of the operation she was to under- 
go. Every arrangement having been made for 
the operation, she undressed herself and sat down 
upon the chair. M. Chapelain held her right arm, 
the left being suffered to hang by her side. M. 
Dailloux, a student at the Saint Louis Hospital, 
was charged to hand the instruments and to make 
the ligatures. First, an incision was made from 
the arm-pit, above the tumor, to the inner side of 
the breast. The second, commencing at the same 
point, separated the tumor below, and passed round 
to meet the first, M. Cloquet dissected the en- 
larged ganglions with caution, on account of their 
proximity to the axillary artery, and took off the 
tumor. The time consumed in the operation was 
ten or twelve minutes. During all this time, the 
patient continued to converse tranquilly with the 
operator, and did not exhibit the slightest sign of 
sensibility ; no movement of the limbs or of the 



DISCUSSIONS. S7 

features^ no change in the perspiration, nor in the 
voice, no emotion, not even in the pulse, were mani- 
fested. They were not obhged to hold her, they 
merely sustained her. A ligature was applied to 
the thoracic artery, which was exposed during the 
extraction of the ganglions. The wound was 
closed with sticking-plaster, and dressed ; the pa- 
tient was put to bed, still in the state of somnam- 
bulism, and left there forty-eight hours. The first 
dressing was removed on Tuesday, April 14th. 
The wound was cleansed and dressed anew ; she 
manifested no sensibility nor pain. The pulse pre- 
served its natural boat. After the dressing had 
been put on, M. Chapelain awoke her, she having 
slept two days. She had no idea of what had 
been done ; but on learning that she had been ope- 
rated upon, and seeing her children around her, 
she experienced a very lively emotion which the 
magnetiser put an end to, by putting her asleep 
immediately." 

The following names were appended to this re- 
port : — Bourdois de la Motte, President ; Four- 
quier, Gueneau de Mussy, Guersent, Itard, J. J. 
Leroux, Marc, Thillaye, Husson. 

Lafayette, in one of his letters to Washington, 
says : " A German doctor, called Mesmer, having 
made the greatest discovery upon animal magneto 
ism, he has instructed scholars, among whom your 
humble servant is called one of the most enthusi- 
astic ; and before I go, I will get leave to let vou 
4 



38 Di scu s sioTfd. 

iftto the secret of Mesmer, which, you may de- 
pend upon, is a grand philosophical discovery." 

Geoiget, the celebrated physiologist of France, 
was once a violent opposer of animal magnetism ; 
but at length he had an opportunity of witnessing 
several magnetic phenomena, and not only became 
convinced of its reality, but almost an enthusi- 
astic advocate of it. In conversation with a friend 
on the subject, he remarked, " I am persuaded 
that great truths have escaped observers ; bui far 
from accusing them of exaggeration, I rather be- 
lieve they have in their recitals kept below the re- 
ality. I believe, for example, that there is no per- 
fect mode of treatment, hut that which somnambu- 
lists prescribe for themselves, and that their admi- 
rable instinct can be serviceable to others" 

He inserted the following statement in his will : 
*' I will not finish this document without adding to 
it an important declaration. In 1821, in my work 
. on the Physiology of the Nervous System, 1 
proudly professed Materialism. The preceding 
year, I bad published a treatise on Madness, and 
another on the Physiology of the Nervous System, 
when new meditations upon a very extraordinary 
phenomenon — somnambulism — would permit me 
no longer to doubt of the existence in us and out 
of us, of an intelligent principle, altogether differ- 
ent from material existences. It is the soul. In 
regard to th s matter, I have a profound convic- 
tions founded upon facts which are not to be con- 



DISCUSSIONS. 39 

troverted. This declaration will not see the light, 
until no one can doubt its sincerity, or suspect my 
intentions. I urgently entreat the persons who 
may take notice of it, at the opening of the pre- 
sent testament, that is, after my death, to give it 
all the publicity possible. March 1st, 1826." 

A. V. Potter states the following facts on the 
subject, in a letter to Thomas C. Hartshorn, of 

Providence : 

*' Saratoga Springs, Sept. 14, 1837. 
"Dear Sir, — On my passage from Providence 
to this place, I stopped for one day at Springfield. 
Having seen an account some few years since of a 
girl that was a natural somnambulist at that place, 
I resolved to see her. I found her to be about the 
age of 19, having the appearance of good health, 
I sat down before her, holding her thumbs, and in 
four minutes she was insensible to all external ob- 
jects. Dr. Belden, her former physician, was 
present, and informed me that the appearance of 
the girl was the same as when in natural somnam- 
bulism, except that she is much more calm. 
When in Albany, October 7th, my friend, Mr. G., 
threw Dr. March's little daughter, seven years old, 
into the magnetic sleep in ten minutes, without 
touching her, and without using the manipulations, 
but simply by the exercise of his will. To ascer- 
tain what effects could be produced at a distance, 
Mr. G. and Professor McKee being at the Tem- 
perance Hotel, and Dr. March kept her reading, 



40 DISCUSSIONS. 

and she knew nothing of the attempt, she dropped 
her book, and fell asleep in five minutes. A. K. 
Hadley, Esq., and a physician, both from Troy, 
were present. She has since been magnetized in 
the presence of Drs. James and George McNaugh- 
ton, and Dr. Peck. Mr. G. Also magnetized Mr. 
John Perry, in the presence of Governor Marcy, 
Mr. Attorney-General Butler, &c. Judge Sprei- 
ker was magnetized four times ; he has been an op- 
poser, but is now a firm believer, and ready to testify 
to the power of this agent. At the house of Rev, 
Mr. Whycopp, in the presence of the Principal of 
the Female Acadamy and others, 1 magnetized 
Miss Van N., about 17 years old. She settled 
down from mirth and laughter, in five minutes, to 
a vacant stare, without winking. In a few minutes 
more she closed her eyes ; she would answer no 
one but myself." 

The Rev. Mr. G. of Albany put a person into 
magnetic somnambulism and performed several in- 
teresting experiments in the presence of Governor 
Seward, Hon. J. C. Spencer, Rev. Drs. Nott and 
Sprague, and others. We leave the affirmative of 
the question sustained, we think by sound argu- 
ments and undeniable facts. 

NEGATIVE. 

Tlie principal arguments of the affirmative are 
founded on testimony. The greatest and best men 
have been deceived ; as were Judge Matthew Hale 



DISCUSSIONS. 41 

of England, and Rev. Cotton Mather, of our coun- 
try, on the subject of witchcraft, in which they be- 
lieved : hence great and good men in our day may 
be deceived. Designing persons have in all ages 
of the world attempted, and in many instances suc- 
ceeded in deceiving others, as Mahomet, Ann Lee, 
Jo. Smith and Matthias, and persons may pretend 
to be in magnetic sleep and somnambulism, and 
thus deceive even the most intelligent men. The 
reported phenomena of somnambulism, clair- 
voyance, &;c. are too wonderful to be believed, 
for they seem miraculous, and believers in revela- 
tion, admit, that the days of miracles are past, and 
disbelievers hold that miracles are impossible. 

These phenomena seem analogous to magic, 
witchcraft, &c., but we know nothing of the sub- 
ject only from report ; therefore with these few re- 
marks, wo leave the subject, trusting that our ar- 
guments are conclusive and unanswerable. 

SUMMING UP OF ARGUMENTS BY THE UMPIRE. 

The affirmative, first argue that the effects of 
oratory are a species of animal magnetism, and 
according to their definition of magnetism, that is 
correct. Then they state more definitely, what is 
meant by animal magnetism, a^id relate facts from 
the highest authority of human testimony, as that 
of the Royal Medical Society of France, and phy- 
sicians are the most proper judges on this subject, 
and they also adduce the testimony of others in ovlx 
4* 



42 DISCUSSIONS. 

own country on the subject, so that the affirmative 
have the best proofs from analogy and facts to sus- 
tain their position. 

The negative take the ground, that testimony 
cannot be relied on, because the greatest and best 
men have been deceived, as Judge Hale and Cotton 
Mather on the subject of witchcraft ; that is a poor 
and untenable argument, and no more reason for 
discarding animal magnetism than Christianity, 
because some have been deceived on that subject 
and advocated false systems. 

In the time of Judge Hale and Cotton Mather, 
the ideas then prevalent on witchcraft were super- 
stitious, unsupported by a single well attested fact, 
and it was supposed to have its origin from Satan, 
and its object to perform Satanic or wicked deeds ; 
whereas animal magnetism is founded on the rock 
of truth, sustained by well attested facts, that have 
been witnessed by thousands of the most scientific 
men that the world affords, and its objects are be- 
nevolent — the relief of maladies and to do good ; 
and in some of the cases cited, there is as much im- 
possibility of being deceived on the subject, as to 
be deceived about the sun shining ; that is, we with 
just as good reason might say, that the sun does 
not shine and never did, as to deny the existence 
of the agent termed animal magnetism. Again, 
the negative argue that because there have been 
imposters, that persons might feign magnetic sleep 
and somnambulism. True, some may attempt to 



DISCUSSIONS. 



43 



feign magnetic sleep, &,c., some attempt to feign 
to be Christians for deception, but that does not dis- 
prove Christianity ; no more does the possibility of 
persons attempting to feign magnetic sleep for de- 
ception, disprove animal magnetism. But it is 
impossible to thus impose upon an experienced 
magnetizer. 

The negative also assert that the phenomena of 
somnambulism are too wonderful to be believed. 
This was the reason why Harvey was ridiculed and 
persecuted for his discovery of the circulation of 
the blood, even by the most distinguished physicians 
of his time, and this was the very reason why Gal- 
lileo was denounced as a mad man and thrown into 
the Inquisition, when he asserted that the world 
turns round. When a Dutch captain was describ- 
ing Holland to the king of Siam, he told him that 
at a certain season of the year the water became 
so hard, that an elephant could walk on it ; the 
king replied, " I have believed many wonderful 
stories, that you have told me about Holland, be- 
cause I believed you to he an honest and good man, 
but now I know you lie, for the statement is too 
wonderful to be believed." And the assertion of 
the phenomena of somnambulism are too wonder- 
ful to be believed, has just as much foundation as 
the above, and no more. 

The negative also say that the phenomena are 
miraculous. A miracle is either a suspension of, 
or contrary to the established laws of nature. Som- 



44 DISCUSSIONSo 

nambulism and its phenomena are among the estab* 
lished laws of nature, because the phenomena fre- 
quently occur naturally or spontaneously. Mar- 
tinet mentions a man who was accustomed to rise 
in his sleep and pursue his business as a saddler. 
Dr. Dyce of Aberdeen states an interesting case of 
a patient of his in the Edinburgh Philosophical 
Transactions : " She was a servant girl, and the 
affection began with fits of somnolenc}'^, which came 
upon her suddenly. On one occasion, she repeated 
distinctly the baptismal service of the Church of 
England, and concluded with an extemporary 
prayer. At one time she laid out the table correctly 
for breakfast and dressed the children of the family, 
her eyes remaining closed the whole time. Once 
she was taken to church while under the attack, 
and there behaved with propriety evidently attend- 
ing to the preacher, and at one time she was af- 
fected to tears. In the interval she had no recoil 
lection of having been to church, but in the next 
paroxysm she gave a most distinct account of the 
sermon, and mentioned the part of it, that affected 
her. During another attack, she read distinctly 
a portion of a book, which was presented to her, 
and she sung much better than she could do when 
awake." Abundance of similar cases may be found 
in medical works. The far-famed Springfield som- 
nambulist referred to by the affirmative, is a case 
in point, and also the sleeping preacher of New- 
York, as eh© was termed, who a few years since 



DISCUSSIONS. 45 

pxcited so much interest and astonishment. And 
instead of being analogous to witchcraft, magic, &c. 
it will probably strike a death blow to superstition. 
The superstitious through ignorance, attribute natu- 
ral appearances and events to supernatural causes ; 
when the principles of animal magnetism shall 
have become generally known, then superstition 
will depart like the early dew before the bright orb 
ofdav. 

We know that this subject has many opposers. 
Multitudes opposed Columbus, Gallileo, Luther, 
Harvey and Fulton, in their noble career of open- 
ing to mankind vast and important truths, and the 
more important the discovery of any new truth, 
the more enemies it has had to contend with, but it 
has always become victorious, so that we have no 
fears but that animal magnetism will survive all 
the puny attacks of its enemies, and prove a great 
and glorious blessing to the world, not only as an 
auxiliary of medicine, but also of Christianity, in 
striking a death blow to materialism, the foundation 
of infidelity. 

Note. — Homer, the first of poets, was doomed to beg his bread ; 
Socrates was condemned by a court of justice to death by poison, 
for teaching truth ; Pythagoras was burned alive for his knowledge 
and virtue • Plato was doomed to slavery, and Seneca was bled 
to death. 



OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS. 



PO MALES EXERT A GREATER INFLUENCE 
ON SOCIETY THAN FEMALES? 

A. — Influence is moral power. Males not only 
occupy exclusively the learned professions, but 
also offices of every grade. Commerce, manu- 
factories, banks, the press, armies. A large share 
of the wealth is in their hands. In all nations that 
are not civilized, all females are slaves. 

N. — Females mould the character of all indi- 
viduals and nations, and early impressions are 
lasting as time and as enduring as eternity ; they 
are also the most vivid ; to illustrate this I need 
only to refer to Philip Doddrige, John Newton and 
Washington. How true, "Our youngest are our 
most important years." 

The beautiful Helen was the cause of the ten 
years siege of ancient Troy by a hundred thousand 
men. The Maid of Orleans delivered France from 
the shackles and tyranny of Britain. Seniiramis 
conquered nations and subdued empires. Many 
females are ornaments to the literary world. 

Note. — Catharine had such influence over her husband Peter 
the Great, that she saved the lives of many fiom the fury of her 
husband, and inspired him with humanity. A word from her mouth 



OUTLINES OTF DISCUSSIONS. 47 

in favour of a wretch, just facing to be sacrificed to his anger, would 
disarm him. At one time she was the instrument of delivering 
her husband and the whole Russian army from eminent danger 
of total destruction by the Turks, which would have enabled the 
Ottomans to subdue Russia also. 



ARE THEATRES BENEFICIAL ? 

A. — Any thing is beneficial when the good re- 
sulting from it overbalances the evil. 

All persons need amusement, the Theatre affords 
it. The Theatre is intended to delineate human 
nature and to dissuade from vice ; also to be the 
standard of taste and literature. In France all 
persons, from the beggar to the king, attend the 
Theatre, and if the actor mispronounces a single 
word, he is hissed from the stage. 

N. — They are unnecessary for amusement, be- 
cause there are abundant sources of amusement in 
every city, without the Theatre. 

We can see human nature delineated every day 
without going to the Theatre, and instead of dis- 
suading from vice, it is a school of vice as its fear- 
ful prevalence in the vicinity of these schools de- 
monstrates. Thousands of youth here take their 
first steps to ruin. Clerks rob their employers to 
obtain the means of attending the play. There is 
no more reason that we should imitate France in 
attending the Theatre than in her mad career of 
infidelity and atheism. 



48 OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS 



DOES WEALTH EXERT MOKE INFLUENCE 
THAN KNOWLEDGE ? 

A. — The wealthy man controls many. — Girard, 
Astdr, Van Rensselaer, Rothschilds. The main 
spring of the worst vices. — ^Arnold, Hull, the pirate 
and robber. 

N. — The teacher, lawyer, physician, statesman, 
Aristotle held unlimited control over the opinions 
of men for fifteen centuries, and governed the em- 
pire of mind wherever he was known. Cc'esar's 
superior skill enabled him to conquer his adversary, 
Pompey, with one half the force that was opposed 
to him ; this also is the secret of Napoleon's won- 
derful success. The influence of wealth is short 
lived ; not so with knowledge. 

WHO DOES SOCIETY THE MOST INJURY, 
THE ROBBER OR SLANDERER ? 

A. — The robber not content with money takes 
life also. 

N. — The slanderer is a robber of character, 
which is more valuable than money, and where the 
robber kills one, the vile slanderer slays a hundred 
with the sword of his serpent-mouth ; and these 
wretches, like devils incarnate, keep whole neigh- 
bourhoods in constant broils. 



OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS. 49 

DID NAPOLEON DO MORE HURT THAN GOOD 
TO THE WORLD ? 

A. — His whole career was marked with blood, 
oceans of wealth and millions of lives were sacri- 
ficed to his ambition. 

N. — He struck a death blow to popery, and laid 
the foundation for the liberty of enslaved Europe. 

IS PARTY SPIRIT BENEFICIAL? 

A. — Check to the party in power from becoming 
corrupt. 

N. — It is the means of many bad men being pro- 
moted to places of trust, because they are good 
party men. It increases the immorality of the na- 
tion. Washington was slandered, and every man 
worthy or unworthy ever since his day, that has 
been held up for the presidency, has been vile- 
ly slandered by the opposing party, and at this 
day we have striking evidence of the evils of 
party-spirit, in the slang that each party heaps 
on the other, and the mean and contemptible mea- 
sures that each take to secure their own party in 
power. "A house divided against itself cannot 
stand.'' Methinks that the convulsions of parties 
are even now weaving the winding-sheet that 
will enshroud the blood.bought liberties of our 
country. This will eventually happen, unless the 
dove of peace shall perch upon our banners, and 
unite us in one great brotherhood, 
5 



50 OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS. 

DOES THE ORATOR EXERT A GREATER IN« 
FLUENCE THAN THE POET ? 

A.^— Greece and Rome. Demosthenes and Cicero. 

N. — ^Homer, Virgil, Milton, Young, Pollock. 
The influence of the orator is short, that of the 
poet lives forever. 

IS LIGHT MATTER? 

A. — It is governed by the laws of matter. Sir 
Isaac Newton believed it to be minute particles of 
matter. 

]Sr. — ^If matter, the sun in time would become 
exhausted, and its particles, however minute, flying 
two hundred thousand miles in a second, would 
speedily kill every living being on the globe. [Ref- 
Nat. Philosophy and Chemistry.] 



OUTLINES OF ESSAYS, 



DECISION. 

Illustration.. — A little chip, floating on the 
>stream, is tossed here and there by every little 
breeze and wave, while the huge log ploughs its 
course majestically along, undisturbed by the rag- 
ing winds or foaming billows. The former repre- 
sents the undecided, the latter the decided man. 

By it Demosthenes, although he had a stam- 
mering tongue, feeble voice, and weak constitution, 
became the unrivalled orator of the world. 

By it Columbus braved ridicule and numerous 
difficulties, until he opened a new world to the 
astonished gaze of the old. 

With the motto, " Decision and perseverance 
overcomes all difficulties,'' Napoleon vanquished 
armies and conquered nations. 

With the same, Franklin, from a poor apprentice 
boy became the first philosopher of his time ; and 
Roger Sherman rose from the shoemaker's bench 
to a seat in the halls of congress ; Wm. L. Marcy 
and Martin Van Buren from poor obscure boys, the 
one to be governor of New-York, and the other to 
the highest office in the gift of the nation. 



62 OUTLINES OF ESSAY Sr 

HABIT. 

Illustration. — It is as supple as the tender 
sapling, and as plastic as the heated wax, when 
forming ; but when formed, is like the sturdy oak, 
unmoved by the raging hurricane, or the flinty rock 
that braves the mountain surges unimpressed. Good 
habits are golden streams, that bless in their course, 
while they are living fountains of bliss to their 
possessor ; bad ones are rivers of lava blighting* 
and destroying on every side, while they are stag- 
nant lakes of death to their owner. Let your 
motto ever be, " Whatever is right, I will pursue ; 
whatever is wrong, I will reject." 

Note. — A lady of New- York has contracted the habit of count- 
ing the panes of glass in a house, the moment she casts her eyes 
upon the window. She has repeatedly assured her friends, that it 
is impossible to cure herself of the habir, and that the sense of 
weariness and pain, from associating the number of panes with the 
idea of a house or window, is a hundred times worse than the la- 
bour of superintending the concerns of a family. An attorney had 
contracted such a habit of numbering his steps, and thinking how 
many paces distance were certain places, that he found it extremely 
difficult to meditate on any other subject. 

HAPPINESS. 

Illustration. — It is a second Eden, in which 
grows the tree of life, by its side stands a cherub, 
whose countenance beams with benevolence and 
delight, while he invites all of earth's sons and 
daughters to eat and live forever ; all press on to 
obtain the boon, but numerous enemies to their 
► peace, tempt a large portion of the multitude from 



OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 58 

the only road into numerous by-paths, that lead to 
misery, wo and death. 

Fame, wealth, power, rank, pleasure and mere 
rounds of excitement, are shadows, and perish with 
the hour that gave them birth. 

GENIUS. 

Illustration. — Charles Bell, in his introduc- 
tory address to his first course of lectures in Edin- 
burgh, in his allusion to that distinguished physiolo- 
gist and surgeon, Mr. John Hunter, says of him, he 
has been called a man of genius, but he was dis- 
posed to take a different view of his character from 
that, which is commonly expressed by that term. 
The great and leading feature in his character was, 
that he was steadily and eagerly devoted to his ob- 
ject, and that no change of external circumstances 
had the pov^rer, for one moment, of turning him 
aside from it. Was he in his study or in his dis- 
secting-room, or mingling with men in the common 
occupations of life ; was he at sea, shut up in a 
crowded transport ; or was he in the field of battle, 
with bullets flying, and men dropping around him, 
one great object was steadily and habitually before 
him, and he never lost sight of an opportunity of 
seizing upon every thing, that could in any way be 
made to bear upon it. Newton stated of himself, 
that his superiority to common minds, was not an 
endowment of nature, but acquired by mental dis- 
cipline, 

5* 



64 OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 

SURPRISE. 

Illustration. — General Putnam was once way- 
laid by a party of the enemy, and they formed across 
the road that he was travelUng ; he rode carelessly 
and leisurely towards them, but when within about 
two rods of their line, he drew his sword, and 
brandishing it, while, with his thundering voice he 
exclaimed, Give way, ye rebels ! and in an instant 
they wheeled to the right and left, so that he rode 
through, and escaped. A curious incident occurred 
a few years since at Union College. Several lovers 
of fun had formed a mock-society to make sport, at 
the expense of some new student ; they succeeded 
for a time to their heart's content. At length they 
fixed on a new subject ; preparations were made for 
a meeting, a delegation was sent to wait on the 
new candidate, he mistrusted their object, but kept 
his thoughts to himself, and proceeded to the scene 
of action ; the members were masqued ; mongi*el 
latin was the language of the fraternity. The first 
order of exercises were declamation from each mem- 
ber, and our hero performed his part with a good 
grace. Next each one gave an extemporaneous 
speech, in which were mingled words belonging to 
no human language. The new member managed 
to have his turn for a speech come last, when he 
thus addressed the assemblage ; 

" Hon. President and members of this most noble 
Society, I am very much obliged to you for the 
high honour that you have condescended to bestow 



OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 55 

• on me in admitting me to your august body. I 
have travelled much, and your beautiful hog-latin 
speeches remind me of similar sounds that I have 
often heard from the numerous gentry that inhabit 
ponds, and the association of ideas brings me to 
imagine that I am at a party of bull-frogs." All 
were taken by surprise : some swore, some gnashed 
their teeth at the disappointment ; others shook 
their sides with laughter ; and during the confu- 
sion occasioned by this sudden change of the scene, 
our hero passed out unobserved, and went to his 
room quite satisfied with his adventure. This de- 
feat destroyed all their sport of this kind. 

EDUCATION. 

Illustration. — It is the philosopher's stone, at 
whose magic touch pebbles are transformed into 
diamonds, deserts into gardens, darkness into light, 
and the tiger fury and madness of the savage into 
the mildness of the lamb. Compare the civilized 
with barbarous nations, and our country with what 
it was 300 years ago. 

PROCRASTINATION. 

Illustration. — There was a lofty mountain, at 
the base of which stood a flourishing village, and 
on its summit was a huge rock, which a rill that 
flowed under it was gradually undermining its 
foundation. The inhabitants were repeatedly re. 
minded of their danger. A little labour would 



56 OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 

have rendered it firm in its lofty seat. Some re- 
solved to do the necessary labour when they should 
have leisure ; others said there is no danger at 
present, and laughed at those who felt any fears on 
the subject. One night when all were wrapped in 
slumber, the rock rolled down with such violence as 
to destroy the whole village, and buried all of its 
inhabitants beneath its ruins, and not one survived 
to tell the sad tale. 

LOVE AND HATRED. 

Illustration. — The one is a sweet smiling an- 
gel of heaven, the other a black demon of hell ; 
one holds in his hands silken cords that unite hearts 
in friendship pure to each other, which at length 
draw them to heaven, the fountain-head of love and 
bliss ; the other conceals his chains of slavery un- 
til he has his victims in his power, he then shackles 
them, and with his hellish taunts drags them down 
to the regions of despair. 

TIME. 

Illustration. — A man is confined in prison, 
he has access to water only by means of a small 
tube through the wall of his cell ; by turning the 
stopper the reservoir is concealed from his view, so 
that the quantity of water is unknown to him. At 
his entrance he is told that he must die the very 
moment the last drop of water is gone. Shortly 
he unthinkingly turns the stopper and lets the wa- 



OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 57 

ter spirt about for amusement ; but at length, sud- 
den 'reflection brings him to consider what he is 
doing, and he exclaims to himself, "Alas ! what a 
fool I am thus to waste this water, for the last drop 
seals my doom in death. I am ignorant of the 
quantity — there may be hundreds of hogsheads, 
and there may not be a gallon ; I will henceforth 
use only what necessity compels me to do.'' 

The prison is this world, and Time is the water. 
We know not how much remains to us. May we 
then rightly improve it. 

Note. — Aristotle was continually engaged in study ; he ate lit- 
tle and slept less. He soon surpassed all his fellow-students. He 
visited ihe principal cities of Greece, seeking the acquaintance of 
all those from whom he could obtain information. His inquiries 
extended to the most trifling subjects, and he committed to writing 
the particulars which he obtained, lest he should forget any useful 
circumstances. When Alexander the Great attained his four- 
teenth year, his ftither, Philip, placed him under Aristotle's tui- 
tion. The preceptor instructed his pupil in the sciences in which 
he himself excelled. Alexander therefore observed, that if he 
owed his life to his father Philip, it was Aristotle who had taught 
him to make a gcod use of it. Cicero, whose genius placed him 
on an equality with Caesar, who was continual'y entrusted with 
the business of the state and of private individuals, found, amid 
troubles and storms, amid the occupation and vicissitudes of life, 
leisure sufficient to acquire a thorough knowledge of all the doc- 
trines of the philosophic sects of Greece. Durinj; a career of such 
prodigious activity he composed numerous works of different kinds, 
on almost all the subjects interesting to man, subjects on which it 
is manifest that he had meditated profoundly. Charlemagne, in 
his prodigious aciivity, found resources unknown to ordinary 
minds. He contrived means at once to conquer his enemies, to 
polish his subjects, to advance and patronise literature and the 
sciences,^ to re-establish the navy, and to perform, in a few years, 
what would seem to require several centuries. 



DO OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 

KINDNESS. 

Illustration. — Proverbs xxv. 21,22. "If thine 
enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ; and if 
he be thirsty, give him water to drink ; for by so 
doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." 

A Roman army had besieged a city of Greece 
for several months, and was on the point of aban- 
doning it, when the schoolmaster of the city, who 
daily marched the children under his care without 
the walls, one day led them to the Roman camp, 
and delivered them up to the Roman general, tell- 
ing him that with them he delivered up the city 
also, for their parents and friends cannot survive 
the loss of their children, and they will surrender 
the city shortly. The Roman general looked at 
this traitor with disgust and indignation, while he 
thus addressed him, " Thou base wretch ! I despise 
thy treachery. I will not take the city by base 
means : thou shalt be justly punished for thy con- 
duct." He then caused his hands to be tied behind 
him, he then put scourges into the children's hands 
with directions to whip him back to the city. 

In the meantime, the city was filled with mourn- 
ing and despair. Fathers were lamenting, mo- 
thers were running about the streets with frantic 
rage, plucking out the hair of their heads, loud 
wailings of sadness and grief resounded from every 
quarter ; when lo, a herald on the walls proclaim- 
ed the joyful tidings that the children were return- 
ing ; then they rushed to behold the glad sight. 



OUTLINES OF ESSATS. 59 

And when they saw them driving before them their 
perfidious preceptor, joy and admiration filled their 
breasts, and they exclaimed, " our enemies are more 
generous and kind than our friends, we will no 
longer resist against such kind enemies," and they 
gave up the keys of the city to the Roman general, 
who returned them with presents, saying he wish- 
ed to take no advantage of an enemy, and marched 
away his army. 

When I was attending a school at Hartford, 
there were two young men members of the school. 
One was amiable and distinguished for his mild 
and kind disposition ; the other possessed opposite 
qualities, and delighted in teasing, insulting and 
abusing him. The young man endured all his 
abuse with patience and meekness ; and one day, 
having purchased some oranges, he gave one of 
the best to his persecutor, when in an instant his 
face was crimsoned with shame and mortification. 
After that he was never known to treat this young 
man or any other of his school-fellows unkindly. 

" A morning in Newgate, — I had long wished an 
opportunity to witness the eflfects of Mrs. Fry's be- 
nevolent exertions. The female prisoners, to the 
number of forty or fifty, were cleanly and decently 
dressed. Mrs. Fry read from the Bible the story 
of Mary Magdalene, with remarks, in so gentle and 
encouraging a manner, that it was impossible not 
to be moved by the quiet pathos of her discourse. 
Her auditors listened with the most serious and 



60 OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 

earnest attention, and many were melted to tears. 
Mrs. Fry recounted some of the obstacles against 
which she has had to contend. It seems, however, 
that there is scarcely any disposition so depraved 
that may not be touched by kindness. The patient 
and persevering efforts of Mrs. Fry have succeed- 
ed in softening and reclaiming the mo?t hardened, 
whom severity would probably have rendered more 
callous ^and desperate. There is a shame of ap». 
pearing ungrateful which operates strongly even in> 
the most vicious breasts. Mrs. Fry said, that 
when, as it sometimes will happen, a prisoner 
after her discharge finds her way back to the goal 
for some fresh offence, the delinquent is more afraid 
of meeting her kindness than of facing the reproof 
of the Bench." 

" There lies more peril, lady, in thine eye, 
Than twenty of their swords." 

The heart of the guilty resists and defies reproach^ 
but melts before the accents of kindness ; it softens 
even a savage's heart, and subdues the fierce rage 
of the wild beasts of the forest. 



Note. — The Rev. Rowland Hill was onee waylaid by a robber, 
who, with a pistol in hand, demanded his money. Mr. Hill gazed 
at him with a mild and benevolent look, and kindly remonstrated 
■with him to abandon such a dreadful course, which must soon end 
in ruin. Tears started from the robber's eyes, while he fell upon 
his knees and begged his pardon. Mr. Hill took him home and 
made him his coachman, and he became a reformed and good 



OUTLINJSS OF ESSAYS. 61 

man, and after having been twenty years in Mr. Hill's family, died 
a peaceful and happy death. 

One evening as Mr. HiU was returning home from a lecture, two 
prostitutes overtook him, and took hold of his arms and asked him 
if he would go with them ; he replied that he was but a short dis- 
tance from home, and preferred that they should go with him ; they 
consented. When they had entered his house, he hinted to Mrs. 
Hill the character of his visiters, took his Bible, read, and then 
prayed feivently, especially for these females. They were treated 
kindly. In the morning they were invited to breakfast with the 
family, and after family worship, Mr. Hill addressed them in a gen- 
tle and tender manner on the danger, degradation and consequen- 
ces of vice. They were m'elted into tears — they expressed their 
desire to reform. Mr. Hill put them under the care of good fami- 
lies, and they manifested the sincerity of their repentance by living 
consistent and virtuous lives, respected by all who knew them. 

PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY. 

Illustration. — The one is a great ocean, 
whose waters seem smooth and unruffled, but be- 
neath its bosom are concealed numerous rocks, 
quick-sands, and horrid whirlpools : Adversity is 
a chart that points out those numerous dangers, 
and holds up a great moral light-house that shows 
a haven of safety and rest. 

POWER OF MUSIC. 

Illustration. — Sultan Amurath, a prince no- 
torious for his cruelty, laid siege to Bagdad ; and, 
on taking it, gave orders for putting thirty thou- 
sand Persians to death, notwithstanding they had 
submitted, and laid down their arms. Among 
them was a musician, like the musician in Homer, 
6 



62 SUBJECTS AND. REFERENdES. 

he took up a kind of psaltry, that had six strings 
on each side, and accompanied it with his voice. 
He sung the capture of Bagdad and the triumph 
of Amurath. The pathetic tones and exulting 
sounds which he drew from the insturrent, joined 
to the alternate plaintiveness and boldness of the 
strains, rendered the prince unable to restrain his 
tears and pity, and repented of his cruelty. Ho 
directed his officers to liberate all his prisoners. 



SUBJECTS AND REFERENCES. 

Describe the progress of making pins, watches, 
of tanning leather, of printing, book-binding, and 
the various other mechanical trades, and their 
uses. [Reference, read Haran's Panorama of 
Trades. 

Describe the head, vertebral column, spinal 
marrow, ribs, cavities of the chest and abdomen, 
pelvis and limbs of man ; the process of digestion, 
circulation of the blood, &c. [Reference, Smel- 
lie's Philosophy of Natural History. 

Describe the structure of birds, fishes, and in- 
sects. [Reference, same as above. 

Respiration, instinct, transformation of animals, 
their habitations, hostilities, artifices, society, do- 
cility, &;c. [Reference, as above. 

Describe the lever, and wheel, and axle, and 



ilfBJECTS AND REFERENCES, 63 

their use, the common and air-pumps, the syphon, 
telescope and microscope, magic lantern, the ca- 
mera obscura, safety lamps, prism, &c. [Reference, 
Natural Philosophy. 

What are the component parts of water, of air, 
of fire ? What would be the result if they should 
be changed in the least ? What is the use of this 
law — that heat expands and cold contracts? 
What would be the result if the freezing of ice was 
not an exception to this law ? What is the pro- 
cess of rendering barren land fertile ? What in- 
gredients will make soap, ink, beer ? Describe 
electricity, galvanism, and their use. [Reference, 
Chemistry. 

Describe the various minerals and their loca- 
tions, especially of the United States ; the most 
noted earthquakes that have happened ; also, the 
eruptions of volcanos ; the coral reefs, and how 
they are formed. [Reference, Mather's Elements 
of Geology. 

Describe the manner of estimating the credibil- 
ity of testimony, the moral probability of miracles, 
association, abstraction, imagination, reason, its 
use in the investigation of truth. Cause and ef- 
fect, qualities and acquirements that constitute a 
well-regulated nind. [Reference, Abercrombie on 
the Intelleclual Powers. 

Describe the best methods of improving the 
mind. [Reference, Watts on the Mind, and Bun- 
den's Mental Discipline, 



64 SUBJECTS AND REFERENCES, 

Are our ideas innate ? [Reference, Locke's Es- 
say on the Human Understanding, (affirmative,) 
and Stern's New System of Mental Philosophy, 
published in the May and June numbers of the 
Knickerbocker for 1840, (negative.) 

Why is it that the pressure of liquids depends 
upon their altitude ? [Reference, Nat. Philosophy, 

How many and what are the kinds of govern- 
ments and religion in the world ? What nations 
are civilized, what ones savage and barbarous, 
and how are the females treated in each ? what are 
the prevailing manners and customs ? [Reference, 
Geography. 

Whose conduct was the most detestible, that of 
Henry VHI., or of Mary, queen of England? [Re- 
ference, History of England. 

Was the last war with England right? [Re- 
ference, Niles' Register, for 1809, '10, '11, '12, '13, 
and 1814. 

Were the Texians, in their late rebellion with 
Mexico, justifiable ? [Reference, History of Tex- 
as, and Grundy's pamphlet on the War of Texas. 

Is slavery right ? [Reference, the Bible. 

Is war right ? [Reference, Bible. 

Which invention is the most important to man, 
that of the mariner's compass, or that of the art 
of printing? A new world was opened by the 
one, and a new sun by the other. 

Describe the birds of America and their habits. 



r 



SUBJECTS AND REFERENCES. 65 



[Reference, Audubon's Birds of America — Natural 
History. 

Describe the various quadrupeds, insects, and 
fishes of the globe. [Reference, Nat. History. 

Describe the various flowers and plants of Amer- 
ica. [Reference, Botany. 

Is Phrenology true ? [Reference, Grimes' and 
Comb's Phrenology, (affirmative.) Dr. Sewal's 
Lectures, (negative.) 

Do males possess talents superior to females ? 
[Reference, Homer, Milton, Newton, (affirmative.) 
Semiramis, Aspasia, Hannah More, H. F. Gould, 
Miss Sedgwick, &c., (negative.) 

Would the accession of Texas to the United 
States be an advantage to our nation ? [Reference, 
Alexander, Greece, Rome, Spain, Russia, Great 
Britain. 

Is the intellect of the European superior to that 
of the African ? [Reference, hosts of distinguished 
men, present condition of the two races, (aff.) 
Hannibal, Esop was a slave, Queen of Sheba, Boli- 
var, President of Hayti, Rev. T. Wright, of New- 
York, (neg.) 

What is requisite for the right formation of 
character? [Reference, Kirk's Sermon on this 
subject, and Bible. 

What is the use of Animal Magnetism ? [Re- 
ference, Debuy's Practical Instruction of Animal 
Magnetism. 



6* 



66 



ADDITIONAL LIST 



ADDITIONAL LIST OF SUBJECTS. 



Adversity, 

Alarm. 

Affectation. 

Affection. 

Agreement. 

Ardent Spirits. 

Anger. 

Alexander. 

Archimedes. 

Beauty. 

Benevolence. 

Biography. 

Bravery. 

Bragging. 

Care. 

Carelessness. 

Calumny. 

Candour. 

Charity. 

Choice of companions. 

Chemistry. 

Consistency. 

Contentment. 

Courage. 

Cruelty. 

Curiosity. 



Controversy. 

Delays. 

Dihgence, 

Disease. 

Dissipation. 

Disobedience. 

Early piety. 

Education. 

Envy. 

Evening. 

Extravagance, 

Fashion, 

Faith, 

Falsehood. 

Forgiveness. 

Fortune. 

Friendship, 

Genius. 

Geology. 

Geography, 

Geometry. 

Habit. 

Happiness, 

History. 

Honesty. 

Hope. 



OF SUBJECTS. 



67 



Humility. 

Hypocrisy. 

Immorality. 

Immortality. 

Indolence. 

Industry. 

Ingratitude. 

Jealousy. 

Joy. 

Kindness. 

Learning. 

Love. 

Luxury, 

Madness. 

Marriage. 

Modesty. 

Money. 

Morning. 

Music. 

Negligence. 

Necessity. 

Order. 



Seasons. 

Self-government. 

System. 

Vice. 

Virtue. 

Use of domestic ani- 

mals. 
Wild animals. 
Birds. 
Insects. 
Reptiles, 
Trees. 
Plants. 
Minerals. 
Fire. 
Water. 
Air. 
Steam, 

Sun and moon. 
Stars. 

Our senses. 
The ocean. 



Pride. 

Which has caused the most evil, Intemperance, 
or War, Pestilence, and Famine combined? 

Is ambition a vice ? 

Is tea or coffee necessary 1 

Is tobacco necessary ? 

Is it right to wear mourning apparel ? 



08 jlDDITIONALLIST ^ 

Which is most useful, fire or water ? 

Which is the strongest element ? 

Which is the strongest passion, love or anger ? 

Who was the greatest monster, Nero or Cataline? 

Who has done the most injury, Mahomet or 
Constantino ? 

Have the crusades been the cause of more evil 
than good 1 

Would it be right for the United States to go to 
war with England, if the North-East Boundary- 
can be settled in no other way ? 

Was England justifiable in her late warlike 
proceedings against China ? 

Is the war waged against the Seminoles of Flo- 
rida just ? 

Is the present militia system of the United 
States a good one 1 

Is it right to imprison for debt ? 

Can the immortality of the soul be proved from 
the light of nature ? 

Which excite the most curiosity, the works of 
nature or of art 7 

Who was the greatest tyrant, Dyonisius or the 
bloody Mary ? 

Ought lotteries to be abolished ? 

Ought there to be a general bankrupt law for the 
benefit of insolvent debtors ? 

Ought the license system to be abolished ? 

Who is entitled to the most honour, Columbus 
or WashingtoB 1 



0FSUBJB0T8. 69 

Are banks beneficial ? 

Are monopolies consistent with our republican 
institutions ? 

Ought there to be duties on imported goods to 
encourage domestic manufacture ? 

Ought there to be any restriction to emigration 1 

Is the botanic system of medicine a good one? 

Are rail -roads and canals a benefit to the coun- 
try? 

Has the invention of gunpowder been beneficial 
to the world ? 

Have steam-boats been the cause of more good 
than hurt ? 

Is pride a mark of talent ? 

Ought females to be allowed to vote ? 

Is corporeal punishment necessary in schools, or 
in the army and navy ? 

Are gold and silver mines upon the whole bene- 
ficial to a nation ? 

Who is the most useful member of society, the 
farmer or mechanic, the merchant or sailor ? 

Does civilization increase happiness? 

Ought circumstantial evidence to be admitted in 
criminal cases ? 

Ought a witness to be questioned as to his reli- 
gious belief? 

What were the causes of the fall of the ancient 
empires ? 

Which is the most important acquisition, wealth 
or knowledge ? 



TO ADDinONALT, I8T 

What advantages has a republic over a mon- 
archy ?* 

Can there be any true virtue without piety ? 

Remabk. The introduction of a subject should 
be brief and vivid. Arguments may consist of the 
following : exanvple, testimony, cause and effects, 
analogy^ 

BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 

Watts on the Mind» Mason on Self-Knowledge. 
Whaley's and Dr. Campbell's Rhetoric. Morley's 
Practical Gaide to Composition. Alison on Taste. 

* Venetian Police. — An anecdote is related which serves to 
show the despotic nature of the Venetian government in a strong 
light. An English gentleman one day entered into conversation 
with a Neapolitan, at one of the taverns of the city, and the dis- 
course happening to turn on the Venetian government, the Neapo- 
litan :ireatly condemned, while the Englishman as warmly com- 
mended, some of its institutions. 

In the middle of the night the Englishman was aroused by a loud 
knocking at the door of his hotel, and presently after the officers of 
justice entered his apartment, and commanded him to rise. As 
soon as he was dressed, a handkerchief was bound over his eyes, 
and he was put on board a gondola. 

After being rowed for some time, he was landed and led through 
long passages, until he reached a large hall, where his eyes were 
unbound, and he was desired to notice what he saw. The Neapo- 
litan was suspended from a beam by the neck. 

Shocked at the sight, he inquired its meaning, and was inform- 
ed that he was thus punished for the free animadversions he had 
made on the Venetian government ; and that, although the Eng- 
lishman had refuted his arguments, the republic was displeased 
with him for entering on such a topic, as it needed no advocates, 
and commanded him to quit its territories in tw»nty-four hours ob 
saai of daath. 



O F SUB JE C TS. 71 

Kaime'g Elements of Criticism. Dick's Works. 
Wayland's Moral Science. Dymond on the Prin- 
ciples of Morality. Dr. Comstock's Natural Phi- 
losophy. Turner's Chemistry. Chapel's Agricul- 
tural Chemistry. Mi ton. Young. Pollock. Addi- 
son's Spectator. The Cold Water Man, publish- 
ed by the New-York Temperance Society. Dodd's 
Index Perum. Haw's Lectures to Young Men, 
Sprague's Lectures to Youth. Pike's Persuasives 
to Early Piety, Do. Guide to Young Disciples. 
Abercrombie's Mental and Moral Philosophy, and 
on the Christian Character, and Culture, and Dis- 
cipline of the Mind. Butler's Analogy, and, above 
all, the Bible. 



APPENDIX. 



EPITOME OF RHETORIC. 

Figurative Language. — A figure of speech is a 
departure from simplicity. They are divided into 
two classes ; viz. : figures of w^ords, and figures of 
thought. The former are Teopes, the latter Met- 
aphors. 

Trope means to turn. As " to the upright there 
ariseth light in darkness ; " light is turned from its 
original meaning, to signify joy or prosperity, and 
darkness adversity. 

Metaphor means a transfer. A metaphor is a 
figure, in which the words are used in their origi- 
nal signification ; but the idea which it conveys, 
is transferred from the subject, to which it properly 
belongs, to some other which it resembles ; thus we 
speak of a distinguished statesman : " He is the 
pillar of the state.'' 

An Allegory is the representation of one thing 
by another. Parables, fables, and riddles, are alle- 
gories. 

A Hyperbole is an exaggeration; thus, "as 
quick as lightning." 
7 



74 APPENUIX. 

Personification is the attributing of life to in» 
animate objects ; as, " the angry ocean,'' " raging 
storm." 

Apostrophe is an address to an absent person, 
as if present, or to an inanimate object, as if living ; 
as, "O my son Absalom," &c., "Listen, ye 
mountains, to my song." 

A Simile is a resemblance between two objects, 
expressed in form ; as, " A troubled conscience is 
like the ocean, when ruffled by a storm." 

Antithesis is the opposite of comparison ; or it 
is one idea opposite to another ; as, " Vice is de- 
testable, but virtue is amiable.'' 

Climax is the regular ascent of a subject, to the 
highest degree : as, " Man is noble in reason, in- 
finite in faculties, in form and motion expressive 
and admirable, in action like an angel, in appre- 
hension like a God ! " 

STYLE. 

Perspicuity, or Clearness, is the first requisite 
of style. Unintelligble language fails of its pur- 
pose. 1. Prefer words of Saxon origin. 2. Avoid 
vulgarisms, superfluities, and technical terms. 

Energy is next in importance. 1. Choice of 
words. Prefer specific to general expressions. 
The impression produced on the mind by a simple 
or singular term, is like a distinct view taken in by 
the eye. The more general the terms, the fainter 



APPENDIX. 75 

is the picture ; the more particular or specific, the 
brighter. 

Illustrations. — Specific — "Consider the lilies, 
how they grow ; they toil not, they spin not, and yet 
I say unto you, that ^Solomon in all his glory, was 
not arrayed like one of these. If then God so 
clothe the grass, which to-day is in the field, and 
to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more 
will he clothe you ? " 

General. — " Consider the flowers, how they grad- 
ually increase in size ; they perform no labour, and 
yet I declare unto you, that not any king is, in his 
splendid attire, equal to them. If then God in his 
providence doth so adorn the vegetable productions, 
which continue but a little time on the land, and 
are afterwards put into the fire, how much more 
will he provide clothing for you?" 

How spiritless is the same sentiment rendered 

by these small variations ! 

" Thence up lie flew, and on the tree of life 
Sat like a cormorant. Milton. 

If for cormorant he had said, bird of prey ^ which 
would have equally suited both the meaning and 
the measure, the image would still have been good, 
but weaker than it is by this generalization. 

2. Metaphor is more energetic in most kinds 
of composition, to Comparison. 

Illustration. — Metaphor — " Cromwell tram,' 
pled on the laws." 

Comparison. — " Cromwell treated the laws with 



76 APPENDIX. 

the same contempt as man does, who tramples any 
thing under his feet." 

Note. — Comparison is one powerful means of heightening any 
emotion, if we represent the present case as stronger than the one 
it is compared with. If comparisons are raised to a climax, the 
effect is much stronger than the mere presentation of the most 
striking object at once. The traveller who ascends the Alps, or 
other stupendous mountains, forms a very inadequate notion of the 
vastness of the greater ones, till he ascends some of the less elevat- 
ed, (which yet are huge mountains,) and thence views the others 
towering above him. And the mind, no less than the eye, cannot 
so well take in and do justice to any vast object at a single glance, 
as by several successive approaches and comparisons , as in Ci- 
cero's oration against Verres : " It is an outrage to bir.d a Roman 
citizen ; to scourge him, an atrocious crime ; to put him to death, 
is almost parricide ; but to crucify him — what shall I call it ? " 
Also, in his oration for Milo — "An assassin was placed in the Fo- 
rum, and in the very porch of the Senate-house, with a design to 
murder the man on whose life depended the safety ofnhe state, and 
at so critical a juncture of the republic, that if he had fallen, not 
this city alone, but all nations must have fallen with him." 

3. Number. — The more briefly a sentiment is ex- 
pressed the greater is the energy. 

Illustration. — The smaller the spot upon which 
the rays of the sun are collected into a focus, com- 
pared with the surface of the glass, the greater is 
the splendour ; so in exhibiting our sentiments by 
speech, the narrower the compass of words, wherein 
the thoughts are comprised, the more energetic is 
the expression. The sentiment, by a multiplicity 
of words, is like David in Saul's armour, encumbered 
and oppressed. 

A paraphrase is generally like the torpedo, that 
has the quality of numbing every thing it touches. 
By its influence, the most vivid sentiments become 



APPENDIX. 77 

lifeless, the most sublime are flattened, the most 
fervid chilled, the most vigorous enervated. In 
the very best compositions of this kind, that can be 
expected, the Gospel may be compared to a rich 
wine of a high flavour, diluted in such a quantity of 
water, as renders it extremely vapid. This would 
be the case, if the paraphrase took no tincture from 
the opinion of the writer, but exhibited faithfully. 

Most of the paraphrases on the Gospel may be 
compared to such wine, so adulterated with a liquor 
of opposite quality, that little of its original relish 
and properties, can be discovered. Accordingly 
in one paraphrase, Jesus Christ is delineated a bi- 
goted Papist ; in another, a flaming Protestant ; 
in one he is made to argue with all the sophistry 
of the Jesuit ; in a second he disclaims with all the 
fanaticism of the Jansenist ; in a third we trace 
the metaphysical ratiocinations of Arminius ; in a 
fourth the bold conclusions of Gomarus ; and in 
each we hear the lano-uage of a man, who has thor- 
oughly imbibed the system of one or other of our 
Christian Rabbis. How different is his own glorious 
character and dialect, from them all ! His language 
is not, like that of all dogmatists, the language of 
a bastard philosophy, that has corrupted religion, 
and in less or more tinged all the parties, into 
which Christendom is divided. His language is 
not so much of the head, as of the heart. His dis- 
courses abound in sentiments, rather than opinions. 
In a concise style, take care that it be not crotcded. 



78 APPENDIX. 

It should be suggestive, that is, without mentioning 
every particular, but such as shall put the reader's 
mind into the same train of thought as the writer's, 
and suggest to him more than is actually expressed. 
Such a style may be compared to a good map, which 
marks distinctly the great outlines, setting down 
the principal rivers, towns, mountains, &c. leaving 
the imagination to supply the villages, hillocks, 
and streamlets ; which, if they were all inserted in 
their due proportion, would crowd the map, though 
after all they could not be discerned without a 
microscope. 

4. Arrangement is very important to energy. 

Illustration. — " Great is Diana of the Ephe- 
sians," is far superior to the French translation, 
" Diana of the Ephesians is a great Goddess, or 
Beausolxe's," " the great Diana of the Ephesians," 
or Saci's, *' live great Diana of the Ephesians." 
" Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord," is much more energetic than " he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord, is blessed." Also, 
" Fallen, fallen, is Babylon, that great city," than 
" Babylon is fallen, fallen." And, " silver and gold 
have I nowe," than, " silver and gold are not in my 
possession." " Not every one, that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," 
vary but the position of the negative in the sen- 
tence, and say, " Every one that saith unto me. 
Lord, Lord, shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven," and you will flatten the expression ex- 



APPENDIX. 79 

ceedingly. We have some admirable examples of 
the power of this circumstance from Shakspeare. 
In the conference of Malcolm with Macduff, after 
the former had asserted that he himself was so 
wicked, that even Macbeth compared with him, 
would appear innocent as a lamb, Macduff replies 
with some warmth : 

Not in the legions 



Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damn'd 
In ills to top Macbeth. 

The arrangement in this sentence is well adapted 
to the speaker's purpose, but if you dispose the 
words in the usual manner, and say, " A more 
damned devil in the legions of horrid hell, cannot 
come to top Macbeth in ills," we shall scarcely be 
persuaded that the thoughts are the same. 

Purity in the English language implies, that the 
words be English, their construction in the Eng- 
lish idiom, and the words and phrases expressed 
with precision. 

Violations of purity. — Firsts Barbarism is in- 
curred in three different ways, by the use of obsolete 
words, new words, and by the use of good words, 
new modelled. 

Examples of obsolete words : hight, cleped, 
unearth, erst, whilom, behest, fantasy, tribulation, 
erewhile, whereas, peradventure, selfsame, anon, &;c. 

New words. — There is some excuse for borrow- 
ing the assistance of neighbours, when it is really 
wanted, but there is certainly a meanness in choos- 



80 APPENDIX. 

ing to be indebted to others, for what we can easily 
be suppHed with out of our own stock. Are not 
pleasure and sally as expressive as volupty and 
sorties ? Wherein is the expression last resort, 
inferior to dernier resort, liberal arts to beaux arts, 
and polite literature to belle lettres 1 

Use of good words, new modelled — That is, new 
formations from primitives in present use ; as in- 
cumberment, portic, martyrized, eucharisity, connexi- 
ty, Jictious, instead of encumberance, portico, mar- 
tyred, eucharist, connexion, fictitious. 

Second, — Solecism, or an offence against syntax ; 
as, " Each of the sexes," says Addison, " should 
keep within its particular bounds, and content 
themselves to exult within their respective districts.'' 
Themselves and their cannot grammatically refer 
to each, singular. Besides the trespass here is the 
more glaring, that these pronouns are coupled with 
its, referring to the same noun. 

Impropriety. — Barbarism is an offence against 
etymology, solecism against syntax, and improprie- 
ty against lexicography. Human and humane are 
sometimes confounded, though the only authorized 
sense of the former is belonging to man, of the lat- 
ter, hind and compassionate. 

Humanly is improperly put for humanely, in these 
lines of Pope : 

Tho' learn'd, well-bred ; and tho' well-bred, sincere • 
Modestly bold, and hiimanly severe. 



APPENDIX. 81 

By an error of the same kind, ceremonious and 
ceremonial are sometimes used promiscuously, 
Tiiey come from the same noun ceremony^ which 
signifies both a religious rite and form of civility. 
The epithet expressive of the first signification is 
ceremonial, of the second ceremonious. Everlasting 
is sometimes used to denote time without beginning, 
when its only proper meaning is without end ; 
hence instead of the expression, '*From everlasting 
to everlasting thou art God," it should be, " From 
eternity to eternity thou art God," 

Improper phrases. — Swift remarks, '' I had like 
to have gotten one or two broken heads." How 
many heads had he ? 

So the pure limpid stream, when foul with stains 

Of rushing torrents and descending rains. — Addison. 

How with propriety or truth can we say, a stream 
is pure limpid, when it is foul with stains 7 

Tautology. — 
The dawn is overcast ; — the morning lours ; 
And heavily in clouds brings on the day. — Addison. 

Here the same thought is expressed thrice in differ- 
ent words. 

Superfluity. — " They returned hack again to 
the same city, from whence they came forth,^^ in- 
stead of, " They returned to the city, whence they 
came." The five words, hach, again, same, from 
and forth, are mere expletives, and incumbrances. 

Unity is very important ; i. e., a connection of 
the several parts with some leading design of the 



82 APPENDIX. 

sentence. There should be but one proposition ex- 
pressed ; if it consists of parts, they must be so in- 
timately connected as to make the impression of 
but one object on the mind ; for this purpose, take 
<jare that in the construction, the scene be changed 
as little as possible. Never crowd into one sen- 
tence, things which have so little connexion, that 
they could bear to be divided into two or more. 
Never insert a parenthesis in the middle of a sen- 
tence, but let it be complete, and brought to a full 
and perfect close. 

Harmony means agreeable sound ; for which 
purpose, care must be taken, that such words be 
chosen as are composed of smooth and liquid sounds, 
with a proper intermixture of vowels and con- 
sonants. 

Introduction to a theme should be brief and 
vivid. 

In this Epitome of Rhetoric, several of the most 
interesting extracts are from Dr. Campbell's Philo- 
sophy of Rhetoric, undoubtedly one of the best 
works on this subject in the English language. 



EPITOME OF LOGIC. 

EVIDENCE. 

Isto Intuitive Evidence is that which is sufficient 
to produce immediate conviction or certainty, 
without the necessity of reasoning ; but appears at 



APPENDIX. 83 

once, through sensation, perception, consciousness, 
memory, or axioms, so self-evident, that it cannot 
be made more clear, nor can require demonstration. 

"I will believe nothing," said a young sceptic 
riding with a gentleman in a coach in England, 
" that I cannot demonstrate." " Do I understand 
you rightly, sir," said his companion, " that you 
will believe nothing that you cannot understand 
and demonstrated " "Yes." "Now, sir, will you 
tell me, what is that? " "A cow." " What has 
it on its back ? " " Hair." " Of what colour ? " 
*'Red." "And what is that?" "A sheep." 
t'With what is it covered?" "Wool." "Of 
what colour ? " " White ? " " Do you believe so ? " 
" Yes." " But do you understand why that cow is 
covered with hair, and the sheep with wool ; or 
why the one is red and the other white ? " " No." 
" But did you not tell me that you would believe 
nothing that you could not understand ? " 

He was silent. 

All over the world is the truth of that scripture 
verified, that the fool will not believe his own 
senses, has said in his heart, there is no God ; the 
fool that talks about demonstration, or the need of 
it, to make that plainer^ which can not he made more 
plain ; or craving after dead Euclid to prove the 
living Bible or moral truth. If such a thing as the 
very quintessence of folly can exist, it certainly is 
in him who is emphatically this fool. 



84 APPENDIX. 

2nd. Deductive Evidence is that which is ex- 
pressed in a conclusion correctly deduced from pre- 
mises known or admitted to be true. 

Let it be granted that " all thinking beings are 
spirits ; that spirits have not the properties of mat- 
ter, as extension ; " here are two postulata granted. 
We may from these two derive Jive conclusions of 
deductive evidence ; thus, 

1. All thinking beings are spirits. 

The mind is a thinking being ; therefore 
The mind is a spirit. 

2. Spirits have no extension. 
The mind is a spirit ; therefore 
The mind has no extension. 

3. Things having no extension are indivisible. 
The mind has no extension ; therefore 
The mind is indivisible. 

4. Things indivisible are indissoluble. 
The mind is indivisible ; therefore 
The mind is indissoluble. 

6. Things indissoluble are immortal. 
The mind is indissoluble ; therefore 
The mind is immortal. 

A gentleman in Yorkshire doubted the existence 
of his own soul, simply because he could not see it. 
In the course of his evening walk, he came to the 
lock of a canal, and stood to contemplate the gate 
by which it was enclosed, and withstood the pres- 
sure of a considerable mass of water. He viewed 
the machinery by which the two parts of the pon- 



APPENDIX. 85 

derous gate were opened or shut ; the peculiar po- 
sition of these parts when closed, not at right angles 
with the direction of the canal, but at an angle or 
position towards the point of pressure, such that the 
greater the pressure, the more firmly were they 
closed. He inquired who had done this ? Mr. L. 
the engineer. But who is Mr. L., is he bodyl 
But body cannot study mechanics, hydraulics, or 
hydrostatics. And here is a visible proof, that 
whatever has done this, must have understood the 
principles which these sciences involve. These 
gates, which I see are an expression of science, and 
body cannot study science ; and if not body, it 
must be mind ; but where is that mind ? I do not see 
Mr. L. or his mind here ; nevertheless he has left 
here a proof of the existence of mind ; that proof 
I can see, feel, and even hear the roaring, the dash- 
ing of water against the gates, which, notwith- 
standing, during every hour of the day and night, 
they withstand. Mr. L. is therefore mind, though 
neither Mr. L. nor his mind can I now see. Let 
me continue this thought. What was that sta- 
tue I saw last week in the cathedral ? Was 
it not the expression of mind? I overcame my 
doubts and perceived, that ultimately teuth would 
prevail, and all that oppose it will sink into ever- 
lasting contempt. I now write down the sum de- 
ducted from my evening reflections. 

Whatever designs is mind. 

I design ; therefore, 

I am mind. 8 



86 APPENDIX. 

Whatever acts by regular and consistent laws, 
implies an intelligent agent enacting those laws. 
Nature acts by regular and consistent laws ; there- 
fore nature implies an intelligent agent enacting 
those laws. 

That which never formed an organized being, 
was a creator. 

Chemical affinity never formed an organized be- 
ing ; hence chemical affinity never was a creator.- 

Whatever never produced one new plant or ani- 
mal never was a creator. 

Perpetual appetency never produced one new 
plant or animal ; therefore perpetual appetency 
never was a creator. 

What could not draw a portrait, never could 
make a man. 

Chance never could draw a portrait j therefore 
chance never could make' a man. 

Whatever combines inimitable complication of 
machinery, could not, in millions of ages, have been 
produced by any fortuitous combinations of matter, 
but must have had a designing cause. 

The eye combines inimitable complication of 
machinery ; therefore the eye could not, in mil- 
lions of ages, have been produced by any fortuitous 
combination of matter, but must have had a de- 
signing cause. 



APPENDIX. 8^7 

TESTIMONY, OR PROBABLE EVIDENCE. 

The grounds of testimony are, 

1 . That the statement refers to a matter of fact 
— that the fact was such as could be easily ascer- 
tained by the person who relates it, and that he 
had sufficient opportunity of ascertaining it. 

2. That the witness be entirely disinterested 
and not influenced by passion. 

3. That there be no connivance, and that the 
substance of the same thing or occurrence is at- 
tested to by several witnesses independently of 
each other. The more improbable a statement is, 
in which such witnesses agree, the greater is the 
probability of its truth. 

4. That the witnesses are known to possess good 
moral character. 

5. A very important circumstance is the ab- 
sence of any contradictory testimony. The ear- 
liest writers against Christianity ascribe the mira- 
culous events to the power of sorcery or magic, but 
never attempt to call them in question as matters 
of fact. 

ARGUMENTATION. 

Arguments may be embodied under the following 
heads : 

1st, Examples. These may be subdivided into 
real and invented ; the former being drawn from 
facts, and includes intuitive and deductive evi- 



88 APPENDIX. 

dence and testimony ; the latter from a supposed 
case, therefore the former is the strongest. 

2d. Analogy, i. e. shght resemblance. In some 
cases analogy is very important — the parables of 
our Saviour are founded on it. " Behold the fowls 
of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, 
nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father 
feedeth them. iVre ye not much better than they?" 
Will a farmer take care of that part of his stock 
which is of little value, and will he not take care 
of that which is greater 1 " If I have told you 
earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye be- 
lieve if I tell you of heavenly things?" 

3d. From cause to effect. 

The 'process of reasoning consists of two parts, 
viz. the premises and the conclusion deduced from 
them. 

A premise is a proposition employed in argu- 
ment or syllogism. Every syllogism contains two, 
of which the first is the major premises, the second 
the minor premise. These two are the premises 
by the last proposition of the syllogism, or conclu- 
sion, is proved ; as 

Major premises. An effect without a cause is 
an absurdity. 

Minor premises. Chance, in the sense of the 
atheist, is an effect without a cause. 

Conclusion. Chance, in the sense of the atheist, 
is an absurdity. 

In every complete argument, there are three and 



APPENDIX. 89 

only three terms, two in the conclusion called the ex- 
tremes ; and these can neither be proved to agree 
nor differ, without one, and only one third term. A 
term is one or more words expressing the subject 
of a sentence, or what is stated on the subject. 

The subject of a proposition is that term of which 
something is affirmed or denied ; and the predicate 
of a proposition is that term which is affirmed or de- 
nied of its subject ; as 

Subject. Predicate. 



All rational animals are men. 
Third, or middle term. 



Premises. All enslaved by appetite are not freemen. 
The sensualist is enslaved by appetite. 

First teim. Second term. 



Conclusion. The sensualist is not a freeman. Extremes. 

Aristotle's rule. — Whatever is predicated, affirm- 
ed, or denied universally, of any class of things, may 
he predicated in like manner, affirmed or denied, of 
any thing comprehended in that class. 

SUMMARY OF FALLACIES IN ARGUMENT. 

Genus 1 . Ambiguity in one term. 
Species 1. Similar expression. 

2. Interrogation. 

3. Equivocation. 

4. Division and composition. 

5. Accident. 
8* 



90 



APPENDIX. 



Genus 2. From a term undistributed. 
Species 1. Undistributed middle, 
2. From an illicit process. 
Improper premises. 



Genus 3. 
Species 
Variety 



1. Begging the question, 

1 . Arguing by what is not granted. 

2. From a synonymous word. 

3. From something equally unknown. 

4. Arguing in a circle. 
Species 2. Undue assumption. 
Variety 1. Assigning a false cause. 

2. Substitution of a false premise. 

8. Partial reference. 

4. Combination with mistake of the 

question. 

5. False inference as to probability. 
Species 3. Mistaking the question. 
Variety 1. Ignorance of the question. 

2. Wilful mistake of the question. 

3. Combination with begging the 

question. 

4. Appeal to the passions, 

5. Shifting ground. 

6. Partial objections. 

7. Unfair representations. 



APPENDIX. 91 



NOTE, 

From Ahercronibie's Inquiries on the Intellectual Powers, 

I. When a principle is assumed which, in fact, amounts 
to the thing to be proved ; slightly disguised, perhaps, by 
some variation in the terms. This is commonly called peti. 
tio principii, or begging the question. When simply stated, 
it appears a fallacy not likely to be admitted ; but will be 
found one of very frequent occurrence. It is indeed re. 
markable to observe the facility with which a dogma, when 
it has been boldly and confidently stated, is often admitted 
by numerous readers, without a single inquiry into the evi- 
dence on which it is founded, 

II. When a principle is assumed without proof ; when 
this is employed to prove something else ; and this is again 
applied in some way in support of the first assumed princi- 
pie. This is called reasoning in a circle ; and the difficul- 
ty of detecting it is often in proportion to the extent of the 
circle, or the number of principles which are thus made to 
hang upon one another. 

III. A frequent source of fallacy is when a reasoner as. 
sumes a principle, and then launches out into various illus- 
trations and analogies, which are artfully made to bear the 
appearance of proofs. The cautions to be kept in mind in 
such a case are, that the illustrations may be useful and the 
analogies may be of importance, provided the principle has 
been proved ; but that if it has not been proved, the illus- 
trations must go for nothing, and even analogies seldom 
have any weight which can be considered as of the nature 
of evidence. Fallacies of this class are most apt to occur 
in the declamations of public speakers ; and when they are 
set off with all the powers of eloquence, it is often difficult 
to detect them. The questions which the hearer should 
propose to himself in such cases are, Doep this really con. 



92 APPENDIX. 

tain any proof bearing upon the subject, or is it mere illus- 
tration and analogy, in itself proving nothing ? — if so, has 
the reasoner previously established his principle ; or has he 
assumed it, and trusted to these analogies as his proofs ? 

IV. A fallacy somewhat analogous to the preceding con- 
sists in arguing for or against a doctrine on the ground of 
its supposed tendency, leaving out of view the primary 
question of its truth. Thus a speculator in theology will 
contend in regard to a doctrine which he opposes, that it is 
derogatory to the character of the Deity ; and, respecting 
another which he brings forward, that it represents the Dei- 
ty in an aspect more accordant with the benignity of his 
character. The previous question in all such cases is, not 
what is most accordant with our notions respecting the Di- 
vine character, but what is truth. 

V. When a principle which is true of one case, or of one 
class of cases, is extended by analogy to others which dif- 
fer in some important particulars. The caution to be ob. 
served here is, to inquire strictly whether the cases are an- 
alogous, or whether there exists any difference which makes 
the principle not applicable. We have formerly alluded to 
a remarkable example of this fallacy in notions relating to 
the properties of matter being applied to mind, without at- 
tention to the fact that the cases are so distinct as to have 
nothing in common. An example somewhat analagous is 
found in Mr. Hume's objection to miracles, that they are 
violations of the established order of nature. The cases, 
we have seen, are not analogous ; for miracles do not refer 
to the common course of nature, but to the operation of an 
agency altogether new and peculiar. Arguments founded 
upon analogy, therefore, require to be used with the utmost 
caution, when they are employed directly for the discovery 
or the establishment of truth. But there is another pur- 
pose to which they may be applied with much greater free- 
dom, namely, for repelling objections. Thus, if we find a 
person bringing objections against a particular doctrine, it 



APPBNDIX. 93 

is a sound and valid mode of reasoning to contend that he 
receives doctrines which rest upon the same kind of evi- 
dence; or that similar objections might be urged with 
equal force against truths which it is impossible to call in 
question. It is in this manner that the argument from ana- 
logy is employed in the valuable work of Bishop Butler. 
He does not derive from the analogy of nature any direct 
argument in support of natural or revealed religion ; but 
shows that many of the objections which are urged against 
the truths of religion might be brought against circumstan- 
ces in the economy and course of nature which are known 
and undoubted facts. 

VI. A fallacy the reverse of the former is used by sophis. 
tical writers ; namely, when two cases are strictly analo- 
gous they endeavour to prove that they are not so by point- 
ing out trivial differences not calculated in any degree to 
weaken the force of the analogy. 

VII. When a true general principle is made to apply ex- 
clusively to one fact, or one class of facts, while it is equally 
true of various others. This is called in logical language, 
the non-distribution of the middle terra. In an example 
given by logical writers, one is supposed to maintain that 
corn is necessary for life, because food is necessary for life, 
and corn is food. It is true that food is necessary for life, 
but this does not apply to any one particular kind of food ; 
it means only, that food of some kind or other is so. When 
simply stated, the fallacy of such a position is at once obvi- 
ous, but it may be introduced into an argument in such a 
manner as not to be so immediately detected. 

VIII. When an acknowledged proposition is inverted, 
and the converse assumed to be equally true. We may say, 
for example, that a badly governed country must be dis- 
tressed ; but we are not entitled to assume that every dis- 
tressed country is badly governed ; for there may be many 
other sources of national distress. I may say, " all wise 
men live temperately," but it does not follow that every 



94 APPENDIX. 

man who lives temperately is a wise man. This fallacy 
was formerly referred to under the syllogism. It is, at the 
same time, to be kept in mind that some propositions do ad- 
mit of being inverted, and still remain equally true. This 
holds most remarkably of propositions which are univer- 
sally negative, as in an example given by writers on logic. 
♦* No ruminating animal is a beast of prey." It follows, 
as equally true, that no beast of prey ruminates. But if I 
were to vary the proposition by saying, " all animals which 
do not ruminate are beasts of prey," this would be obvious- 
ly false ; for it does not arise out of the former statement. 

IX. A frequent source of fallacy among sophistical writ- 
ers consists in boldly applying a character to a class of 
facts, in regard to which it carries a general aspect of truth 
without attention to important distinctions by which the 
statement requires to be modified. Thus, it has been ob- 
jected to our belief of the miracles of the sacred writings, 
that they rest upon the evidence of testimony, and that tes- 
timony is fallacious. Now, when we speak of testimony 
in general, we may say with an appearance of truth that it 
is fallacious ; but, in point of fact, testimony is to be refer- 
ed to various species ; and, though a large proportion of 
these may be fallacious, there is a species of testimony on 
which we rely with absolute confidence ; that is, we feel it 
to be as improbable that this kind of testimony should de- 
ceive us, as that we should be disappointed in our expecta- 
tion of the uniformity of nature. The kind of sophism now 
referred to seems to correspond with that which logical 
writers have named the fallacy of division. It consists in 
applying to facts in their separate state what only belongs 
to them collectively. The converse of it is the fallacy of 
composition. It consists in applying to the facts collective- 
ly what belongs only to them, or to some of them, in their 
separate state ; as if one were to show that a certain kind 
of testimony is absolutely to be relied on, and thence were 



APPENDIX. 95 

to contend that testimony in general is worthy of absolute 
confidence. 

X. A frequent fallacy consists in first overturning an un- 
sound argument, and thence reasoning against the doc- 
trine which this argument was meant to support. This is 
the part of a mere casuist, not of a sincere inquirer after 
truth ; for it by no means follows that a doctrine is false 
because unsound arguments have been adduced in support 
of it. We have formerly alluded to some remarkable ex- 
amples of this fallacy, especially in regard to those import- 
ant principles commonly called first truths : which, we 
have seen, admit of no processes of reasoning, and conse- 
quently are in no degree affected by arguments exposing the 
fallacy of such processes. We learn from this, on the other 
hand, the importance of avoiding all weak and inconclusive 
arguments or doubtful statements ; for, independently of 
the opening which they give for sophistical objections, it is 
obvious that on other grounds the reasoning is only encum- 
bered by them. It is a part of the casuist to rest the weight 
of his objections on such weak points, leaving out of view 
those which he cannot contend with. It may even happen 
that a conclusion is true, though the whole reasoning may 
have been weak, unsound, and irrelevant. The casuist, of 
course, in such a case attacks the reasoning, and not the 
conclusion. On the other hand, there may be much in an 
argument which is true, or which may be conceded ; while 
the most important part of it is untrue, and the conclusion 
false. An inexperienced reasoner, in such a case, thinks it 
necessary to combat every point, and thus exposes himself 
to sound replies from his adversary on subjects which are 
of no importance. A skilful reasoner concedes or passes 
over all such positions, and rests his attack on those in 
which the fallacy is really involved. An example illustra- 
tive of this subject is familiar to those who are acquainted 
with the controversy respecting our idea of cause and effect. 
Mr. Hume staled in a clear manner the doctrine that this 



VW APPENDIX/ 

idea is derived entirely from our experience of a uniform 
sequence of two events ; and founded upon this an argu- 
ment against our belief in a great First Cause. This led to 
a controversy respecting the original doctrine itself ; and it 
is not many years since it was contended by respectable in- 
dividuals that it is nothing less than the essence of atheism 
to maintain that our notion of cause and effect originates in 
the observation of a uniform sequence. It is now, perhaps, 
universally admitted that this doctrine is correct, and that 
the sophism of Mr. Hume consisted in deducing from it 
conclusions which it in no degree warranted. This import- 
ant distinction we formerly alluded to ; namely, that our 
idea of cause and effect in regard to any two individual 
events is totally distinct from our intuitive impression of 
causation, or our absolute conviction that every event must 
have an adequate cause. 

XI. A sophism somewhat connected with the former con- 
sists in disproving a doctrine, and on that account assum- 
ing the opposite doctrine to be true. It may be true, but 
its truth does not depend upon the falsehood of that which 
is opposed to it ; yet this will be found a principle of not un- 
frequent occurrence in unsound reasonings. 

XII. Fallacies are often introduced in what may be 
termed an oblique manner ; or, as if upon a generally ad- 
mitted authority. The effect of this is to take off the ap- 
pearance of the statement being made directly by the au- 
thor, and resting upon his own authoi-ity, by which we might 
be led to examine its truth. For this purpose it is put, per- 
haps, in the form of a question ; or is introduced by such 
expressions as the following : " it is a remarkable fact," — 
" it is somewhat singular," — " it has been argued with much 
justice,"—*' it will be generally admitted," &c. 

XIII. Fallacy may arise from leaving the main subject 
of discussion, and arguing upon points which have but a se- 
condary relation to it. This is one of the resources of the 
casuist when he finds himself in the w^orst of the argument- 



A r r E N D 1 X . 97 

Nearly allied to this, is the art of skilfully dropping part of 
a statement, when the reasoner finds he cannot support it 
and going on boldly with the remainder as if he still main- 
tained the whole. 

XIV. Much of the fallacy and ambiguity of processes of 
reasoning depends entirely, as formerly stated, on the use 
of terms. This may consist in two contending parties using 
the same word in different meanings without defining what 
their meanings are ; in one or both using terms in a sense 
different from their commonly recognized acceptation, or in 
using them in one sense in one part of the argument, and 
in another in a different part of it. Such disputes, accord- 
ingly, are often interminable ; and this mode of disputation 
is one of the great resources of the casuist, or of him who 
argues for victory, not for truth. The remedy is, that every 
reasoner shall be required clearly to define the terms which 
he employs ; and that in every controversy certain premi- 
ses or preliminaries shall be fixed in which the parties are 
agreed. The ambiguity of terms is in fact so extensive a 
source of fallacy that scarcely any sophistical argument will 
'be found free from it ; as in almost every language the same 
term is used with great diversity of meanings. Let us take, 
for example, the term faith. It means a mere system of 
opinions, confidence in testimony, reliance on the integrity, 
fidelity, and stability of character of other beings, an act of 
the understanding in regard to abstract truth presented to 
it, and a mental condition by which truths of another de- 
scription exert a uniform influence over the moral feelings, 
the will, and the whole character. In the controversies 
which have arisen out of this word, it will probably be found 
that these various meanings have not been sufficiently dis- 
tinguished from each other. A celebrated passage in the 
" Spirit of Laws" has been justly referred to as a remarka 
ble example of the same kind of sophism. " The Deity,'* 
says Montesquieu, " has his laws ; the material world, its 
'aws ; intelligences superior to man, their laws ; the brutes^ 
9 



yo APPENDIX. 

their laws ; man, his laws," la this short passage, the term 
laws is employed, probably, in four senses, remarkably dif- 
ferent. 

XV. There are various other sources of fallacy, consist- 
ing chiefly in the use of arguments which cannot be admit- 
ted as relevant in regard to the process of reasoning, though 
they may carry a certain weight in reference to the individ- 
uals concerned. Among these may be reckoned appeals to 
high authorities, to popular prejudices, or to the passions of 
the multitude ; and what is called the argumentum ad 
hominem. If a person, for example, be arguing in support 
of a particular rule of conduct, we may retort upon him 
that his own conduct in certain instances was in direct op- 
position to it. This may be very true in regard to the indi- 
vidual, but can have no influence in the discussion of the 
question. 

XVI. One of the most common sources of fallacy con- 
sists of distorted views and partial statements ; such as facts 
disguised, modified, or collected on one side of a question, 
or arguments and authorities adduced in support of particu- 
lar opinions, leaving out of view those which tend to differ, 
ent conclusions. Mis-statement, in one form or another, 
may indeed be considered as a most fruitful source of con- 
troversy ; and amid the contests of rival disputants, the 
chief difficulty which meets the candid inquirer after truth, 
is to have the subject presented to his mind without distor- 
tion. Hence the importance, in every inquiry, of suspend- 
ing our judgment, and of patiently devoting ourselves to 
clear the subject from all imperfect views and impartial 
statements. Without the most anxious attention to this 
rule, a statement may appear satisfactory, and a deduction 
legitimate, which are in fact leading us widely astray from 
the truth. 



APPENDIX. 99 



RULES OF CONTROVERSY. 

Rule 1. The terms to which the question in de- 
bate is expressed, and the precise point at issue, 
should be so clearly defined that there could be no 
misunderstanding respecting them. This alone 
will frequently terminate the controversy at once. 
The want of it is often the sole origin from which 
controversy and all the unpleasant circumstances 
attending it arises. 

Rule 2. The parties should mutually consider 
each other as standing on a footing of equality in 
respect to the subject in debate ; and that it is pos- 
sible that he may be wrong and his adversary in the 
right. 

Rule 3. All expressions which are unmeaning, 
and not of direct relevancy to the subject in de- 
bate, should be avoided. 

Rule 4. Personal reflection, that is where a name 
or a character is expressly connected with a name, 
should in no instance be indulged. 

Rule .5. No one has a right to accuse his adver- 
sary of indirect motives. 

Rule 6. The consequences of any proposition 
are not to be charged on an adversary, except they 
are not only injurious to morals and to society, but 
also logically deducible from that proposition. 

Rule 7. As truth is the professed object of con- 
troversy, whatever proofs may be advanced on 
either side should be examined with fairness and 



100 APPENDIX. 

candour ; and any attempt to ensnare an adversary 
by the arts of sophistry, or to lessen the force of 
his reasoning by wit, cavilling, or ridicule, is a 
violation of the rules of honourable controversy. 

Rule 8. Beware of wandering from the subject 
of debate, but confine your remarks to the point ; 
then, like the rays of the sun brought to a focus, 
they will be effective. 

In preparing this epitome of logic, Parker's Lo- 
gic and Abercrombie on the Intellectual Powers, 
are the principal works from which extracts have 
been made, both valuable books, and ought to be 
possessed by every young man in the United 
States. 



INDEX. 



Directions for forming Societies, - - - - - ' 5 

Constitution and By-Laws, ------ 8 

Remarks, --------- 9 

To Ladies, - - - - - - -- -15 

Plan for Ladies Lyceums, ----- 15 

DISCUSSIONS. 

Is Capital Punishment right ?----- 19 
Are Fictitious Writings Beneficial ? - - - - 26 

Is Animal Magnetism true? ----- 33 

OUTLINES OF DISCUSSIONS. 

Do Males exert a greater influence on society than Fe- 
males ?--------i-46 

Are Theatres beneficial? ------ 47 

Does Wealth exert more influence than Knowledge ? - 48 

Who does society the most injury, the robber or the 

slanderer ?-------- 48 

Did Napoleon do more hurt than good to the world ? - 49 

Is party spirit beneficial ?------ 49 

Does the Orator exert a greater influence than the Poet ? 50 
Is light matter? --------50 

OUTLINES OF ESSAYS. 

Decision, - -.-----51 

Habit, 52 

Happiness, --------52 

Genius, _-»--- ---53 

Surprise, -------- 64 

Education, ---------55 

Procrastination, -------55 

Love and Hatred, -------56 

Time, 56 

Kindness, ------- -58 

9* 



102, INDEX. 

Page 

Prosperity and Adversity, ----- 61 

Power of Music, - -- - - - -6l 

Subjects and Reference, ------ 6- 

Additional list of subjects ------ 66 

Remarlis, - - - -- - " -- lO 

Books of reference. ,-_---- 70 



INDEX OF THE APPENDIX. 

EPITOME OF RHETORIC. 

Figurative Language, .--.-- 7S 

Metaphor, Trope, -.---- - 73 

Allegory, - - - - ' " " ""'"^ 

Hyperbole, ------ _ . 7J 

Personification. -.------ 7J 

Apostrophe, - - - " - * " * ' '^ 

Simile, 74 

Antithesis, - ...--- - 74 
Climax, .-.--.---74 

Style, .-.---••" ^4 

Perspicuity, - - - - • " - - - /4 

Energy, .-.-...-- 74 

Illustrations, ..--.-.- 75 



Arrangement, 



78 



82 



Purity, -,-.-----/9 

Violation of Purity, -..--♦- 79 

EPITOME OF LOGIC. 

Evidence, 

Intuitive Evidence. - - - - - - - ' 82 

Deductive Evidence» ^^ 

Testimony, - .--..--87 

Argumentation, - - -■" ■ -87 

The process of Reasoning, 
Summary of Fallacies, 



. - . . - 89 
Rules of Controversy, - - " " " " * ^^0 



nPP 



1 mk 



